ti 


I 


CLAIMS  OF  THE  COUNTRY 


AMEEICAN    FEMALES. 


MISS    COXE, 


AUTHOR  OF  THE   «  YOUNG  LADY'S  COMPANION,"    «  THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  DEEP,"    «  THE 
INFANT  BROTHER,"  ETC.,  ETC 


VOL.  I. 


COLUMBUS  :   ISAAC  N.  WHITING, 


MDCCCXLII. 


Entered  according  to   act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  l'>4".  h%    ISAAC    N. 
WHITING,  in  tho  Clerk's  ofiice   of  tin;   District  Court  lor  the  District  of 

Ohio. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Introduction 

CHAPTER  I. 
Woman's  station  providentially  appointed     ...  15 

CHAPTER  II. 
Duties  assigned  to  woman  in  her  station       -  36 

CHAPTER  III. 
Women  and  their  station  among  the  Hebrews        -  50 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Women  during  the  middle  ages  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth   76 

CHAPTER  V. 
Women  under  the  decline  and  suspension  of     do.  92 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Nations  of  Antiquity  120 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Women  of  the  Ancient  Greeks     -        -        ...          126 

CHAPTER  VHI. 
Women  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth  and  Empire         -          148 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Women  in  a  savage  and  semi-civilized  state  of  society        167 

CHAPTER  X. 
Women  of  Mahommedan  countries       -  192 


IV.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XL 
Women  of  Primitive  Christianity  205 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Women  under  defective  creeds 219 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Women  of  Protestant  Christianity        ....          v>30 


INTRODUCTION. 


Numberless  and  multiform,  have  been  the  demonstra- 
tions of  a  corrupt  nature,  which  the  human  race  has  been 
exhibiting  during  the  lapse  of  ages,  subsequent  to  the 
grand  catastrophe  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  Among  these, 
not  the  least  striking  or  uniform  in  its  manifestations,  has 
been  a  spirit  of  complaint,  which  seems  a  part  of  the  in- 
heritance,— the  bosom  companion  of  the  natural  man, 
whatever  may  be  the  scene  of  his  earthly  sojourn ;  and 
which  to  the  impartial  judgment  of  angelic -intelligence 
must  appear  equally  astonishing,  whether  the  subject  be 
viewed  in  reference  to  Him,  whose  justice,  wisdom  and 
mercy  are  arraigned, — to  the  nature  of  the  charges  on 
which  the  accusations  are  based, — or  to  the  peculiar  po- 
sition of  the  complainants. 

But  however  extraordinary  it  may  seem  to  beings  who 
have  never  departed  from  the  original  rectitude  of  their 
nature,  it  is  nevertheless  a  veritable  fact,  Ih^t  from  the 
moment  when  the  first  murderer  received  from  his  offend- 
ed Maker  the  just  meed  for  his  deliberate  fratricide,  to 
the  present  hour, — the  instinctive  feeling  of  the  unre, 
generate  subject  of  providentially  inflicted,  though  justly 
incurred,  punishment  has  been  the  same; — whether  ad. 
dressed  in  the  language  of  rebellious  and  despairing  feel- 

1 


2  INTRODUCTION. 

ing  which  aggravated  evil  to  him,  who,  like  Cain,  feels 
compelled  to  endure  it,  or  whether  confined  in  silent  hitter- 
ness  to  the  depths  of  the  sufferer's  heart. 

"  My  punishment  is  greater  than  I  can  hear,''  exclaim- 
ed the  guilty  hut  unhumbled  murderer  of  the  innocent 
Abel,  ivhen  receiving  his  sentence  from  the  lips  of  his 
justly  offended  God,  "Behold!  thou  hast  driven  me  out 
this  day  from  the  face  of  the  earth;  and  it  shall  come  to 
pass  that  every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me!" 
t;  Would  to  God,"  said  the  chafed  and  discontented  Israel- 
ites, "  we  had  died  by  the  hand  of  the  Lord  in  the  land 
of  Egypt,  when  we  sat  by  the  flesh  pots,  and  when  we 
did  cat  bread  to  the  full,  for  ye  have  brought  us  forth 
into  this  wilderness  to  kill  us  with  hunger.'' 

These  arc  individual  cases,  but  they  may  serve  as  ge- 
neric delineations  of  the  vasi  family  of  the  murmurers, 
of  whom  Cain  was  the  prototype.  Not  content  with  fret- 
iul  impatience  under  present  evils,  they  are  uniformly 
found  to  wither  the  most  acutely  under  the  imaginary 
forebodings  of  severer  sufferings. 

Were  this  spirit  confined  to  the  people  of  the  world,  it 
would  not  be  so  much  a  matter  of  surprise;  but  it  is,  alas! 
to  be  met  with  continually,  among  those  who  having 
'•avouched  the  Lord  to  be  their  God,"  arc  manifestly 
under  a  solemn  obligation  to  believe  and  act  under  the 
belief,  that  the  times  and  seasons  are  in  the  Lord's  hands, 
and  "  the  government  is  on  his  shoulders,''  who  has  repeat- 
edly condescended  to  assure  us  of  his  kind  and  providential 
care  in  the  most  minute  as  well  as  in  the  greatest  events 
of  life. 

We  err  as  much  in  venturing  to  decide  on  the  relative 
enormity  of  transgressions  in  order  to  satisfy  ourselves  as 
to  their  extenuation,  as  in  undertaking  to  admeasure  provi- 


INTRODUCTION",  d 

dential  events  underjhe  classification  of  great  and  minor, 
from  the  importance  which  they  may  severally  assume  in 
our  eyes.  No  sin  can  in  reality  be  called  small,  which  is  a 
deliberate  violation  of  the  laws  of  Him,  who  is  the  legisla- 
tor of  the  universe;  so  no  event  should  be  termed  insignifi- 
cant which  forms  a  link  in  that  vast  chain  by  which  the 
Almighty  has  connected  indiscolubly  the  destinies  of  the 
age  in  which  we  live,  with  those  which  have  been  follow- 
ing in  close  succession  from  the  era  of  the  creation,  and 
with  those  likewise  that  are  to  intervene  between  the 
present  moment  and  the  final  consummation  of  all  thing?. 

What  is  more  common  than  to  hear  petulant  invectives 
or  gloomy  forebodings  about  "  the  times,"  as  if  God  had 
withdrawn  from  the  supervision  of  this  world's  concerns, 
and  had  virtually  consigned  the  helm  of  the  universe  to 
human  and  irresponsible  agents  1  For  the  last  few  years, 
through  every  quarter  of  the  widely  extended  American 
States  and  Territories,  the  voice  of  complaint  has  been 
continually  swelling  into  louder  notes,  and  many  of  our 
wise  statesmen,  as  well  as  of  our  private  citizens,  have 
permitted  themselves  to  think  and  give  public  utterance 
to  the  opinion,  that  the  preservation  of  our  personal  safety 
and  political  liberties,  are  solely  dependent  on  the  cha- 
racter of  those  who  may  be  elevated  by  the  will 
of  the  sovereign  people,  to  the  chief  places  in  the 
American  cabinet.  Such  views,  however,  savor  strongly 
of  unbelief;  for  has  not  the  Christian  patriot  other  and 
stronger  grounds  for  encouragement,  than  may  be  based 
on  the  principles  of  action,  or  changes  of  policy,  adopted 
by  his  fellow-men  1 

Yes,  blessed  be  God  !  we  may  confidently  trust,  that 
our  destiny,  whether  national  or  personal,  is  not  indissolu- 
bly  linked  with  that  of  any  creature.  "  The  kings  of  the 


INTRODUCTION. 

earth"  may  place  themselves  in  battle  array  against  us, — 
"  the  rulers  may  gather  together  against  the  Lord,"  and 
combine  wisdom  with  might  in  their  political  machina- 
tions, yet  will  they  be  found  impotent  to  accomplish  aught, 
save  what  "  thy  hand,"  O  Lord.  "  and  thy  counsel  deter- 
mined before  to  be  done." 

To  mourn  over  the  miseries  which  surround  us,  can  not 
be  improper,  provided  our  lamentation  sinks  not  into  hope- 
less despondency,  or  betrays  us  not  into  petulant  murmur- 
ing, and  personal  and  uncharitable  invectives  on  the  con- 
duct of  others.  But  if  Christian  patriots,  we  may  not 
sorrow  as  those  bereft  of  hope,  while  we  have  this  immu- 
table promise  of  God  remaining  to  cheer  us,  under  seasons 
of  the  greatest  darkness  and  discouragement:  "all  things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God." 

Let  us  then  take  heed  while  venting  complaints  against 
our  fellow-men,  who  may  have  been  permitted  to  become 
as  the  royal  Assyrian  of  old,  "  the  rods  of  God's  anger," 
employed  in  chastisement  of  our  national  ingratitude,  lest 
we  too,  like  those  in  the  camp  of  Israel,  who  murmured, 
may  be  "  destroyed  of  the  destroyer." 

While  forbidden  to  indulge  this  propensity  of  our  com- 
mon nature,  we  are  not  precluded,  but  rather  encouraged, 
to  prosecute  an  inquiry  into  the  probable  causes  of  the  sad 
declension  of  national  prosperity.  When  a  majority  of  the 
most  intelligent,  sober-minded  and  moral  members  of  a 
civil  community,  are  foundevincing  deep  anxiety,  as  to  its 
present  condition,  it  surely  behooves  all  interested  in  its 
weal  or  wo,  seriously  to  inquire,  whether  they  may  not  be 
in  a  measure  responsible  for  the  evils  which  have  already 
cast  a  withering  blight,  or  may  yet  be  instrumental  in  call- 
ing it  forth,  over  the  national  prospects  of  a  land,  which  a 
half  century  since,  was  regarded  with  intense  interest,  by 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

the  whole  of  Christendom,  while  rising  in  her  youthful  and 
vigorous  beauty,  she  bade  fair  to  become  the  joy  of  the 
enlightened  spirits  of  our  race. 

Some  of  the  most  acute  and  profound  minds  in  our  halls 
of  legislation,  as  well  as  in  the  more  private  walks  of  life, 
have  been  found  pondering  over  the  constitution,  whose 
formation  was  once  alike  the  pride  of  American  sages,  and 
the  joy  of  pure  republican  spirits, — under  the  expectations 
that  flaws  and  inherent  weaknesses  might  be  found  therein, 
sufficient  to  solve  a  problem  so  mysterious.  But  the  fa- 
thers of  our  country  did  not  construct  this  system  of  na- 
tional legislation  by  their  own  unaided  strength  of  intellect ; 
unlike  all  other  forms  of  government  now  in  existence,  it 
may  be  pronounced  emphatically  "  the  asked  of  God,"* 
the  fruit  of  fervent  prayers,  poured  forth  from  the  fulness 
of  those  noble  and  manly  hearts  assembled  in  solemn  con- 
clave, in  a  hall  which  not  only  to  the  citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia, but  to  Americans  universally,  must  be  regarded  as 
a  consecrated  spot — the  chamber  of  Independence. 

Instead  of  attempting  abstruse  and  philosophical  specu- 
lations, on  the  probable  defects  of  this  joint  product  of  di- 
vine and  human  wisdom,  for  which  task  inclinations  and 
ability  alike  unfit  me,  I  would  rather  seek  to  arouse  my 

*  It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  during  the  deliberations  of  the  Ameri- 
can Convention  relative  to  the  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  Dr.  Franklin  introduced  a  motion  for  prayers;  which  he 
prefaced  with  some  very  striking  and  pertinent  observations,  in  which  he 
set  forth  the  wisdom  as  well  as  policy  of  dependence  on  divine  aid  in 
their  labors;  he  besought  his  fellow-countrymen  "  humbly  to  apply  to 
the  Father  of  lights  to  illuminate  their  understandings,"  asserting  it  to 
be  his  belief,  that  an  empire  could  not  rise,  or  a  political  fabric  be  pro- 
perly consolidated,  without  the  concurring  aid  of  the  Almighty.  The 
motion  was  accordingly  made  and  carried.  From  that  time  the  framers 
of  the  constitution  unitedly  besought  the  divine  assistance  in  their  daily 
labors,  so  that  the  Constitution,  when  completed,  may  deservedly  be 
styled— «  the  asked  of  God." 

1* 


6  INTRODUCTION. 

country  women  and  myself,  to  a  consciousness  of  the  re- 
sponsibility resting  on  American  females  at  the  present 
crisis  of  our  national  history. 

Human  society  is  but  the  aggregate  assemblage  of  in- 
dividuals, and  of  course  it  is  impossible  to  separate  national 
from  private  character;  the  former  can  have  no  personal 
identity  irrespective  of  that  derived  from  the  beings  who 
constitute  its  separate  atoms,  its  intellectual  molecules. 
In  all  its  divisions,  females  form  a  large  proportion  of  the 
components,  and  on  this  ground  alone,  their  principles  of 
action  and  moral  influence  would  seem  deserving  of  atten- 
tive consideration  from  the  legislator  and  philanthropist. 
That  their  influence  both  in  ameliorating  and  debasing 
human  nature  is  in  an  increased  ratio  to  their  numerical 
importance  is,  however,  a  fact  confirmed  by  revelation, 
historical  testimony, and  experience;  which  position  I  shall 
attempt  subsequently  to  elucidate.  It  will  be  in  accord- 
ance with  the  designs  of  the  present  publication  likewise, 
to  embody  such  suggestions  as  appear  to  throw  light  on  the 
position  which  the  female  sex  was  designed  to  occupy  in 
the  moral  universe  of  God — and  to  give  some  hints  as  to 
the  class  of  duties  thereby  imposed  on  women,  neither  of 
which  points  are  undeserving  of  attentive  consideration  to 
those,  who  ardently  desire  to  (ill  up  their  lives  with  duty 
and  usefulness,and  to  fulfil  thcirdestined  vocation  as  female 
patriots,  and  Christian  conservatives. 

When  GUI'  time-pieces  cease  to  accomplish  the  specific 
object  for  which  they  were  designed,  do  we  not  as  a  matter 
of  course,  submit  them  to  the  inspection  of  those  versed  in 
the  mechanical  principles  on  which  they  were  constructed, 
that  the  sources  of  internal  disturbance  may  be  ascertained 
and  the  evils  remedied.  No  rational  being  questions  the 
propriety  of  such  a  course  of  procedure,  and  would  smile 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

at  the  fatuity  of  another,  who,  ignorant  of  the  laws  of  me- 
chanical powers,  should  ponder  over  his  open  time-piece, 
alternately  gazing  at  the  eeveral  parts, — one  moment  fan- 
cying the  main-spring,  and  at  another  the  fusee,  to  be  the 
centre  of  disorder.  No  !  On  such  occasions  we  are  con- 
tent to  follow  the  dictates  of  reason,  and  experience  con- 
firms their  fitness.  Bat  why  not  proceed  on  similar  prin- 
ciples, when  more  important  interests  arc  involved  ? 

The  world  itself,  with  its  vast  population,  is  a  specimen 
of  God's  workmanship,  and  undoubtedly  was  originally  so 
created  by  him,  that  all  its  elements  were  complete  and 
perfect.  Infinite  wisdom,  swayed  by  boundless  benevo- 
lence, devised  and  executed  each  portion  of  the  complica- 
ted mechanism,  which  was  thus  of  course  peculiarly  fitted 
to  accomplish  its  specific  functions,  so  long  as  the  relations 
should  be  maintained,  which  had  been  established  by  the 
divine  mind. 

History  and  observation,  however,  combine  to  assure  us, 
that  human  society  has  become  sadly  disorganized,  and  that 
moral,  no  less  than  intellectual  darkness,  have  shrouded  to 
a  great  extent,  the  creation  of  our  great  and  merciful  God. 
Revelation  steps  in  to  aid  us,  when  baffled  reason  fails  to 
solve  the  mystery.  With  her  unerring  finger,  she  points  to 
the  explanation  contained  in  the  volume  of  inspiration, 
"  man  sinned  and  fell  short  of  the  glory  of  God,"  and  from 
that  moment,  a  malign  influence  has  gone  forth,  pervading 
the  whole  organization  of  this  world's  concerns. 

Philosophy,  falsely  so  called,  vainly  attempts  to  offer 
another  mode  of  accounting  fo_r  the  all-prevalent  and  ap- 
palling wickedness  that  reigns  around;  equally  fallacious 
are  her  promises  of  a  brighter  and  better  day,  to  be  ushered 
in  by  the  instrumentality  of  agents  and  systems  of  her  own 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

fashioning,  however  plausible  may  be  the  theories  on  which 
such  anticipations  are  founded. 

In  carrying  on  the  complicated  machinery  of  the  uni- 
verse, the  Almighty  Master  Mind,  has  ever  maintained  his 
station  of  supreme  control;  but  from  thence  he  has  sent 
forth  his  irresistible  mandate?,  and  specific  commissions  to 
the  various  agents  to  whom  he  has  entrusted  the  develop- 
ment and  complete  accomplishment  of  his  divine  purposes. 
Not  one  has  ever  been  frustrated — nor  has  one  been  impe- 
ded farther  than  his  will  permitted.  Man  has  indeed 
in  all  ages  been  wonderfully  sagacious  in  seeking  to  elude 
his  Maker's  eye,  or  in  discomfiting  his  design.  Whether 
assembled  in  vast  multitudes,  he  has  sought  to  accomplish 
his  own  self-willed  impulses,  by  building  "  a  city  and  a 
tower,  whose  top  may  reach  heaven,"  or  whether  arrayed 
in  royal  diadem,  he  has  dared  singly  to  confront  his  God 
with  unhallowed  and  presumptuous  purposes;  still  the  lan- 
guage of  Jehovah  to  each  and  to  all  who  have  sought  and 
shall  yet  continue  to  seek,  to  traverse  the  path,  on  which 
the  broad  wheels  of  his  providence  have  been  rolling  ma- 
jestically, from  the  moment  when  time  began,  until  it  shall 
be  no  longer, — has  ever  been,  "  I  will  overturn — overturn 
— overturn  it;  and  it  shall  be  no  more,  until  he  come 
whose  right  it  is"  to  govern,  and  then  thrones,  dominions, 
principalities  and  powers  shall  bow  in  willing  obeisance 
before  their  universal  Lord.  But  while  wielding  not  the 
sword  in  vain  when  arrogance  is  to  be  quelled,  or  obedience 
exacted,  yet  "  saith  the  high  and  lofty  One  that  inhabiteth 
eternity ,  I  dwell  in  the  high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also, 
that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit 
of  the  humble  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite  one." 

To  Him,  therefore,  let  us  look  in  humble  confidence, 
beseeching  Him  to  show  to  the  daughters  of  America  the 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

place  he  has  designed.,  them  to  fill  in  his  moral  universe, 
and  to  impart  to  them  grace  and  strength  to  discharge  its 
distinctive  and  appropriate  duties.  Especially  let  us  im- 
plore the  illumination  of  the  spirit, — the  promised  guide 
to  truth, — that  we  may  become  instructed  in  that  know- 
ledge which  is  most  important  for  us  to  attain, — the  know- 
ledge of  ourselves, — of  our  transgressions  and  corruptions. 
He  "  who  is  exalted  to  give  repentance,''  is  also  entitled 
to  hestow  "  remissions  of  sin."  Our  iniquities  are  bound 
up  in  the  bundle  of  our  country's,  and  if  individual  peni- 
tence abounds,  then  will  that  of  the  nation  be  secured  and 
its  destruction  averted;  "For  if  we  turn  again  unto  the 
Lord,  our  brethren  and  our  children  shall  find  compassion, 
and  the  fierceness  of  his  wrath  may  be  turned  away  from 
us."  "  The  Lord  our.  God  is  gracious  and  merciful,  and 
will  not  turn  his  face  from  us,  if  we  return  unto  him." 

The  serious  tone  pervading  the  present  volume,  will  by 
some  readers  be  considered  as  an  objectionable  feature  in 
a  publication  designed  for  popular  reading.  Be  it  so  ! — 
Nevertheless  the  author  can  not  dissemble  or  disguise  her 

o 

opinion  that  the  fate  of  her  country  is  dependent  on  its 
moral  character,  and  not  on  the  operation  of  second  cau- 
ses. "  If  the  calamity  of"  America,  like  that  of  Moab,  be 
"  near  to  come,  and  if  her  affliction  hasteth  fast,"  then  may 
we  be  well  assured  that  "  the  strong  staffof "  liberty  "  will 
be  broken,  and  the  beautiful  rod"  spoiled,  not  on  account 
of  inherent  constitutional  weaknesses  in  our  government, 
but  because  the  memorial  of  our  national  sins,  like  that  of 
Ninevah  and  Sodom,  has  come  up  before  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
Nor  let  this  be  objected  to  as  the  language  of  enthu- 
siasm; as  if  we  would  be  understood  to  imply  that  the  in- 
terference of  God  must  be  necessarily  manifested  in  a 
miraculous  manner,  either  for  judgment  or  approval,  since 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

this  is  not  his  ordinary  method  of  procedure.  The  de- 
struction of  Babylon  was  foretold,  and  Cyrus  specified  by 
name  as  her  destroyer,  i\\o  hundred  years  before  that  event 
rame  to  pass;  he  came  as  God  predicted  to  fulfil  his  plea- 
sure upon  the  capital  of  the  Babylonish  empire,  yet  was 
there  nothing  miraculous  in  his  proceedings.  God  regard- 
ed him  with  favor,  and  as  his  appointed  instrument  award- 
ed success  to  his  arms.  Victory  followed  in  his  pathway, 
when  the  Almighty  "opened  before  him  the  two  leaved 
gates'" — and  when  he  ';  brolje  in  pieces  the  gates  of  brass 
and  cut  in  sunder  the  bars  of  iron:" — yet  these  events 
How  on  so  much  in  accordance  with  the  usual  course  ot 
nature, — being,  apparently  traceable  to  adequate  causes, — 
that  the  sagacious  and  discriminating  mind  of  Xer.ophoir 
or  Kcrodotu=.t  as  well  as  that  of  many  a  one,  amcr.g  the 
various  generations  who  have  studied  their  writings,  could 
detect  nothing  which  might  not  by  inference,  be  considered 
referable  to  the  distinguished  abilities  and  consummate 
military  skill  of  the  Persian  hero.  There  is  a  striking 
coincidence  observable  between  the  minutkc  of  this  great 
event  as  recorded  by  these  two  heathen  writers,  and  the 
predictions  of  the  divinely  inspired  historians.  "  Behold," 
said  the  Almighty  by  the  mouth  of  Isaiah,  "I  will  stir  up 
the  Medcs  against  them,  which  shall  not  regard  silver; 
and  as  for  gold,  they  shall  not  delight  in  it.  Thrir  bow? 
also  shall  dash  the  young  men  to  pieces:  their  eye  shall 
not  spare  children,"  etc.  Xcnophon  makes  Cyrus  com- 
mence his  address  to  his  soldiery  with  these  words,  "  Ye 
Modes,  I  well  know  that  ye  have  not  accompanied  me 
with  the  view  of  acquiring  wealth"  etc.  Pie  likewise 
specifics  their  ponderous  metalic  bows,  of  three  cubits  in 

*  Xenophon  Cyropedia.    .Book  VII.  t  Herodotus.    Book  I. 


INTRODUCTION.  1 1 

length,  fit  instruments  to  accomplish  the  work  predicted  by 
God.  Herodotus  concurs  with  Xenophon  in  the  account 
of  the  hundred  massy  gates  of  brass,  and  of  the  means 
of  access  which  they  presented  to  the  conquerors 
who,  under  extraordinary  circumstances,  found  what  had 
been  intended  as  the  surest  defence  of  the  imperial  city, 
made  instrumental  to  its  complete  destruction.  "  1  will," 
said  the  Almighty,  "  loose  the  loins  of  kings  to  open  before 
him  the  two  leaved  gates,  and  the  gates  shall  not  be  shut." 
Herodotust  informs  us,  that  Cyrus  understanding  a  great 
festival  was  to  be  kept  in  Babylon,  and  that  the  king  and 
his  subjects  ordinarily  spent  that  night  in  revelling  and 
excess,  wisely  judged  it  would  be  a  suitable  period  for  him 
to  consummate  his  purposes;  he  sent  a  party  of  his  men  to 
the  head  of  the  canal  leading  to  a  great  lake  above  the 
city,  who  at  an  appointed  time  broke  down  the  embank- 
ment which  intervened  between  the  Euphrates  and  the 
canal,  by  which  means  the  waters  of  the  former,  by  the 
current,  were  forcibly  impelled  into  the  lake,  the  level  of 
which  was  lower;' and  thus  in  a  short  time  the  channel  of 
the  river  was  drained  sufficiently  to  be  fordable.  At  mid- 
night the  army  of  Cyrus,  in  two  bodies,  entered  the  cily 
by  the  opening  in  the  walls,  formed  for  the  passage  of  the 
stream.  The  brazen  gates  which  led  down  to  the  river, 
and"  which  in  ordinary  times  were  closed  carefully,  so  form- 
ing a  metalic  and  impregnable  wall,  were  on  that  night  of 
revelry  carelessly  left  open,  and  through  the  open  portals 
the  army  of  Cyrus  ascended  into  the  city  and  took  posses- 
sion of  it,  when  it  was  furnished  with  provisions,  according 
to  a  Roman  historian,  sufficient  for  the  subsistence  of  its 
numerous  inhabitants,  during  twenty  years. 

*  Herodotus.     Book  I. 


12  INTRODUCTION*. 

Many  other  cases  might  be  citctl,  to  confirm  the  opinion 
as  to  the  manner  in  which  the  providential  and  far-reach- 
ing designs  of  God,  in  respect  to  national  destiny,  may  be 
gradually  unfolded  and  consummated  b}*  an  order  of  events, 
which  seem  not  unaccountable  in  the  circumstances,  under 
which  they  have  taken  place. 

Instead  then  of  folding  our  hands,  in  indolent  and 
thoughtless  confidence  of  security,  because  we  can  not 
detect  visible  indications  of  national  judgment,  let  us  ra- 
ther ponder  on  the  coincidence  existing  between  our  pre- 
sent circumstances  and  those  of  "  the  daughter  of  Egypt," 
when  the  prophet  declared  her  national  malady  to  be  in- 
curable, and  beyond  the  reach  of  medicinal  remedies. — 
"The  -nations  have  heard  of  thy  shame,"  exclaimed  (he 
son  of  Israel  in  his  address  to  her,  "  and  thy  cry  hath  filled 
the  land;  for  the  mighty  man  hath  stumbled  against  the 
mighty,  and  they  are  fallen  both  together." 

If  but  ten  righteous  persons  had  been  found  in  Sodom, 
then  had  its  destruction  been  averted, — so  if  the  daugh- 
ters of  America  be  but  faithful  to  their  God  and  to  them- 
selves, then  may  our  beloved  country  be  permitted  to  re- 
gain not  only  the  measure  of  prosperity  which  it  once 
possessed,  but  may  also  rise  to  the  enjoyment  of  yet  more 
distinguished  privileges  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
When  the  confederate  kings  of  Judah,  Israel  and  Edom, 
in  a  season  of  perplexity,  presented  themselves  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  first  named  prince,  before  the  prophet  of 
God,  the  guilty  Jchoram,  the  sovereign  of  Israel,  with  his 
confederate  brother  of  Edom,  received  this  remarkable 
salutation  from  Elisha — "  As  the  Lord  of  Hosts  liveth  be- 
fore whom  I  stand,  surely  were  it  not  that  I  regard  the 
presence  of  Jehosaphat,  the  king  of  Judah,  I  would  not 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

look  toward  thee  n6r  see  thee.''*  Let  us  American 
females,  realize  the  claim  which  our  country  has  on  us  at 
the  present  crisis,  and  each  one  according  to  our  separate 
position  in  society,  seek  as  our  most  precious  adorning,  the 
same  living  piety  which  characterized  the  monarch  of  Ju- 
dah:  then  may  the  Lord  so  k4  regard  our  presence"  as  his 
children  by  faith  in  the  Redeemer,  that  he  will  condescend 
in  mercy  to  regard  with  favor  the  land  of  our  birth,  and 
cause  her  to  shine,  beautifully  radiant,  "  as  an  army  with 
banners." 

*  Jeremiah  xlvi. 


CHAPTER     I. 

WOMAN'S  STATION"  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED,    •  \. 

A  people  characterized  by  intellectual  activity,  will 
uniformly  be  found  manifesting  a  passion  for  novelty. 
This  was  an  astonishing  feature  in  the  Athenian  mind,  at 
the  proud  era  of  her  national  glory,  when  Greece  number- 
ed Demosthenes,  and  Thucydides,  among  her  sons.  The 
former  describes  his  countrymen  as  eagerly  thirsting  after 
news,  while  the  latter  characterizes  them  as  "  excellent  in 
suffering  themselves  to  be  deceived  by  novelty  of  speech." 
This  peculiarity  in  their  idiosyncrasy,  was  still  observable, 
when,  four  centuries  subsequent  to  the  Persian  invasion, 
the  city  of  Athens  was  visited  by  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  since  at  that  time  ';  the  Athenians  and  strangers 
which  were  there,  spent  their  time  in  nothing  else,  but 
either  to  tell  or  to  hear  some  new  thing." 

On  this  point,  the  American  and  Athenian  mind  may  find 
a  bond  of  union  and  sympathy,  though  the  young  republic 
can  not  trace  a  lineal  descent  from  the  favorite  of  Minerva. 
Expositions  of  scientific  truth,  theories  of  political  econo- 
my, opinions  in  civil,  political,  religious,  social  and  literary 
subjects,  and  suggestions  in  mechanics,  are  continually 
presented  to  the  public,  as  especially  entitled  to  attentive 
consideration,  whose  claims  to  favor  are  found  frequently 
to  be  based  on  no  better  foundation  than  novelty. 

Among  the  suggested  improvements,  may  be  enumera- 
ted the  attempts  which  have  so  frequently  been  made  of 


WOMAN'S    STATION    PROVIDENTIALLY    APPOINTED. 

late  year?,  to  give  currency  to  certain  statements  in  re- 
spect to  the  position  occupied  by  woman  in  the  social  and 
political  relations  of  society.  Through  the  medium  of  the 
press,  by  popular  oratory,  and  in  public  places  of  resort, 
r.:id  in  private  circles,  the  female  sex  have  been  represented 
r.i  having  been  subjected  to  a  rigorous  and  oppressive 
vnssahge  for  near  six  thousand  years,  by  their  restricted 
confinement  to  the  shades  of  private  life, — their  condem- 
nation to  the  monotonous  exercise  of  an  inferior  and  de- 
grading class  of  duties, — then  state  of  preclusion  from  un- 
fettered intellectual  exertion,  and  their  non-participation 
in  political  privileges-  These  ultra  reformers  have  raised 
their  banners  ostensibly  in  the  cause  of  injured  woman, 
:uid  as  her  deliverers  from  an  ignominious  yoke,  asserted 
to  be  equally  galling  to  her,  and  subversive  of  the  best 
interests  of  the  human  race;  and  so  ingeniously  and  plau- 
sibly have  they  frequently  argued,  that  many  ambitious 
and  unprincipled,  as  well  as  injudicious  minds  among  those 
whose  partisans  they  profess  to  be,  have  been  allured  to 
the  standards  of  their  chivalrous  chiefs,  there  to  exhaust 
all  their  energies  in  furthering  a  cause  which  is  falsely 
deemed  fraught  with  blessings  to  those  whose  rights  are 
nominally  espoused. 

Alas!  minds  thus  perverted  in  judgment,  and  blinded 
by  prejudice,  evince  an  inability  to  detect  the  finely  mark- 
ed, but  expressive  lines,  which  give  grace  and  personality 
to  woman's  nature,  when  regenerated  and  sanctilicd  by 
the  grace  of  God.  The  outline  and  filling  up  of  that 
figure  both  attest  it  to  be  the  work  of  "His  unrivalled 
pencil,"  whose  scientific  knowledge  and  practical  skill,  are 
alike  transcendant.  Sagacity  and  wise  discrimination 
have  been  equally  manifested  in  the  adaptation  of  the 
nature  of  woman  to  her  designated  sphere, — and  vice 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.         17 

» 
versa.     The  statue,  in  the  accuracy  of  its  proportions  as 

first  created,  showed  the  hand  of  a  master,  while  the  niche 
in  his  vast  temple,  prep'ared  for  it  to  occupy,  was  pecu- 
liarly calculated  to  exhibit  all  those  heauties  in  the  most 
appropriate  light,  and  to  the  utmost  possible  advantage, 
so  long  as  it  should  retain  its  oiiginal  purity.  Since 
the  fall,  woman  has  indeed  become  greatly  degraded  in 
the  scale  of  being;  but  if  certain  peculiarities  in  her  mate- 
rial structure,  now  fit  her  for  the  discharge,  of  those  physi- 
cal relations,  in  which  through  every  age  and  in  all  climes, 
particularly  as  a  consequence  of  that  sad  event,  she  has  been 
placed,  why  should  it  be  deemed  irrational  or  absurd,  if 
special  purposes  of  the  divine  mind  should  have  been  ren- 
dered equally  manifest,  in  the  adaptation  of  the  moral  and 
intellectual  capabilities  of  her  nature,  to  a  no  less  specific 
and  appropriate  sphere  of  action,  when  divine  grace 
should  be  superinduced  upon  it.  In  carrying  on  the 
diversified  and  complicated  ecomony  of  the  kingdom  of 
nature,  the  Governor  of  the  universe  has  evinced  consum- 
mate skill  in  producing  important  results, — in  securing 
order  and  harmonious  action  by  the  application  of  antago- 
nist principles,  thus  preserving  an  exquisite  balance  be- 
tween powers,  which,  if  not  wisely  restrained,  would  have 
introduced  infinite  disorder,  and  sometimes  have  involved 
total  ruin. — By  the  exertion  of  the  counteracting  forces  of 
centripetal  and  centrifugal  powers,  the  harmony,  beauty, 
and  unchanging  regularity  of  the  solar  system,  has  been 
secured.  The  irresistible  and  overwhelming  compression 
of  the  material  particles  of  which  our  globe  is  composed, 
which  would  have  resulted  from  the  unresisted  sway  of  the 
law  of  attraction,  has  been  likewise  prevented  by  the  ac- 
tion of  the  opposing  law  of  repulsion,  which  in  its  turn,  if 
uncontrolled,  would  have  caused  to  dissolve  and  dissipate 

2* 


n         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

into  an  seriform  fluid,  the  most  solid  forms  of  matter, — 
Attain,  in  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  human  body,  the 
same  principle  has  been  rendered  available  to  the  most 
important  purpose?,  and  man  hourly  reaps  the  advantage 
derived  from  the  possession  of  antagonist  power?) — in  ex- 
ertions of  muscular  strength,  from  the  most  simple  to  the 
most  complicated.  In  the  mechanism,  intellectual  and 
moral,  of  each  individual,  also  we  find  special  affections 
pointing  to  distinct  and  separate  objects,  and  which  may 
be  restrained  from  excess  by  the  operations  of  God's  spirit 
working  by  means  of  other  principles  of  counteractive 
power,  while  the  action  of  the  whole  has  an  evident  ten- 
dency to  promote  the  well-being  of  the  creature  himself, 
as  well  as  that  of  his  species.  May  not  the  Almighty  Pa- 
rent of  the  human  race  in  framing  the  mental  and  moral 
constitutions  of  the  two  sexes,  have  had  respect  to  the  same 
great  principle  of  procedure,  and  prepared  them  to  per- 
form their  respective  parts  in  the  mechanism  of  society, 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Gospel  economy,  by  endowing 
each  with  the  power  of  developing,  when  regenerate,  cer- 
tain attributes  of  a  common  nature  in  a  degree  of  perfec- 
tion which  would  not  have  been  so  well  attained,  had  they 
both  been  deputed  to  manifest  the  same  class  of  virtues 
and  similar  features  of  mind  1 

There  are  important  generalities  in  their  common  na- 
ture, but  I  apprehend  no  less  certain  specific  distinctions, 
the  reasons  for  which  are  apparent  and  satisfactory  to  an 
inquiring  mind.  The  architect  is  compelled  to  employ 
various  tools  in  perfecting  his  work;  the  hammer,  the  saw, 
and  the  plane  have  each  a  particular  adaptation  to  cer- 
tain offices  in  mechanism ;  neither  could  be  dispensed  with, 
nor  could  the  use  of  one,  supersede  that  of  the  other. — 
The  Almighty  has  been  for  ages  erecting  a  holy  city,  into 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.         19 

which  hereafter  "  the  glory  and  honor  of  the  nations"  are 
to  be  brought,  but  into  which  none  shall  enter  that  have 
not  been  purchased  by  the  blood  of  Christ.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  the  most  perfect  unity  of  design  and  harmonious 
development  of  every  part;  and  while  in  its  construction, 
its  divine  head,  though  not  compelled  by  necessity  so  to 
do,  has  had  recourse  to  special  instruments  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  every  separate  purpose. 

The  introduction  of  sin  into  the  world,  has  induced 
many  and  sad  changes  in  its  material  structure  and  in  the 
moral  and  physical  condition  of  its  inhabitants.  A  with- 
ering blight  has-been  permitted  to  a  certain  extent  to  pass 
over  the  face  of  external  nature,  whose  surpassing  beauty 
and  perfection  when  springing  into  being  at  its  Maker's 
commands,  entitled  ii  to  his  benediction,  and  elicited  from 
the  admiring  hosts  of  heaven,  songs  of  joy  and  adoration. 
The  rod  of  chastisement  was  however,  solely  exercised  in 
vindication  of  divine  justice,  and  not  wielded  in  wrath  by 
an  inexorable  judge.  The  attributes  of  Jehovah's  mind 
are  attempered  to  such  perfection,  that  infinite  justice 
never  induces  him  to  forget  his  purposes  of  boundless  be- 
nevolence. When  therefore  his  guilty  and  rebellious 
creatures  rendered  themselves  voluntarily  obnoxious  to 
punishment,  perfect  holiness  required  the  infliction;  but 
in  its  execution,  "  mercy  and  truth  met  together,  righteous- 
ness and  peaee  kissed  each  other."  Jehovah  in  his  office 
of  divine  legislator,  continued  to  manifest  the  ineffable 
tenderness  of  his  parental  nature,  and  so  graciously  dis- 
pensed the  very  punishments  which  his  violated  law  de- 
manded, as  to  render  them  actually  subservient  to  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  glorious  scheme  of  redemption  devis- 
ed in  infinite  mercy  for  the  fallen  and  condemned.  The 
course  of  moral  discipline  to  which  human  nature  is  now 


20         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

necessarily  subjected,  preparatory  (o  its  introduction  to  a 
higher  and  holier  slate  of  existence,  is  inseparably 
connected  with  the  curse  inflicted  as  a  chastisement. 

If  our  progenitors  were  created  to  manifest  the  divine 
glory,  and  V  ere  quickened  into  natural  life  by  two  distinct 
emanations  of  the  spirit  of  God,  may  not  the  inference  be 
admitted,  that  as  co-workers  for  their  Lord,  our  sexes 
were  each  destined  to  specific  and  responsible  offices  un- 
der diseconomy  of  a  wise  Providence? — so  that  when  rous- 
ed from  the  death  of  "  trespasses  'and  sins,"  quickened 
into  spiritual  life  by  God's  "kindness  through  Christ  Je- 
FUS,"  without  dissonance  or  conflicting  action,  they  may- 
move  on,  as  it  were,  "  wheel  in  the  midst  of  a  wheel*' — 
"whither  the  spirit  is  to  go," — their  v. ings  stretched 
heavenward,  but  "joined  one  to  another,"  neither  disturb- 
ing nor  impeding,  but  only  accelerating,  the  motions  of  the 
other, — whensoever  their  spiritual  natures  submit  to  the 
constraining  power  of  celestial  attraction  ? 

Between  the  judicial  sentences  passed  upon  the  first 
pair  after  the  fall,  there  may  be  readily  perceived  striking 
features  of  distinction,  which  I  apprehend  can  not  be  con- 
sidered as  entirely  referable  to  the  diflerent  position  of  the 
transgressors.  I  may  be  pardoned,  perhaps,  if  I  suggest 
whether  these  peculiarities  may  not  furnish  some  ground 
for  the  opinion  that  the  two  sexes,  of  whom  Adam  and 
Eve  were  the  representatives,  were  each  especially  ap- 
pointed to  manifest  in  a  more  peculiar  manner,  a  separate 
class  of  the  mental  and  moral  attributes  of  human  nature, 
and  were  to  shew  forth  the  praise,  and  to  further  the  cause 
of  their  Lord,  by  series  of  actions  and  exhibitions  of  duties 
not  entirely  analagous:  while  both  were  alike  bound  im- 
peratively, to  "  work  out  their  own  salvation  with  fear  and 
trembling,  remembering  that  it  is  God  alone  who  werketh 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.        2  I 

in  them  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good  pleasure."  Equally 
were  they  required  to  live  not  unto  themselves  hut  unto 
their  Lord — to  look  not  on  their  own  things,  hut  on  those 
of  others,  and  whatsoever  they  had  to  do,  whether  in  word 
or  deed,  all  was  to  "be  done  "  to  the  glory  of  God." 

Unto  Adam  the  Almighty  said,  "  cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake-,  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of 
thy  life;  thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee; 
and  thou  shalt  eat  the  herb  of  the  field  j  in  the  sweat  of 
thy  face  sha4t  thou  eat  bread  until  thou  return  to  the 
ground,  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken ;  for  dust  thou  art,  and 
unto  dust  shalt  thou  return."  In  these  brief  portions  of 
Scripture  is  comprised  a  prophetic  and  remarkably  faithful 
description, — a  striking  epitome  of  the  history  of  fallen 
man  during  the  progress  of  near  six  thousand  years!  En- 
dowed with  the  sterner  and  more  commanding  attributes 
of  mind,  invested  with  superior  physical  strength,  he  was 
designed  for  a  more  continued  and  open  conflict  with  ma- 
terial things;  and  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  his  ap- 
propriate sphere,  the  relations  of  which  to  things  "  that 
are  seen  and  temporal,"  arc  much  more  intimate  and  ob- 
vious, than  in  that  assigned  to  woman,  the  peculiar  course 
of  moral  discipline  marked  out  for  him,  was  more  espe- 
cially to  be  accomplished;  and  while  doing  "all  things 
through  Christ  which  strengthened"  him,  he  wras  to  "  press 
towards  the  mark,  for  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus." 

By  those  actings  and  reactings  of  feeling  which  would 
result  from  the  collision  with  his  fellows  in  society; — by 
the  observations  and  close  scrutiny  to  which  his  conduct 
and  opinions,  his  prejudices  and  partialities  would  be  con- 
tinually subjected  in  his  prominent  position,  the  lord  of 
creation  was  continually  to  be  reminded,  that  he  was 


22         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

through  anxiety,  toil,  and  rude  conflict  with  external 
things,  to  force  his  appointed  way.  At  the  moment  of 
man's  creation,  the  Almighty  wtis  by  virtue  of  his  divine 
attribute  of  prescience,  perfectly  apprized  of  the  conse- 
quences that  must  result  to  the  material  world  from  the 
operation  of  those  opposing  influences  which  were  there- 
after to  be  associated  with  material  thing?,  in  judgment,  for 
the  apostacy  of  man.  He  was  perfectly  aware  of  the 
change  which  would  occur,  in  the  nature  of  his  occupa- 
tions, who  had  originally,  while  innocent,  been  put  into 
the  garden  of  Eden  to  drc?s  and  to  keep  it,  when  vegeta- 
tion having  lost  a  portion  of  the  original  loveliness  which 
it  exhibited  when  its  Maker's  smiles  beamed  forth  upon  it, 
obscured  by  no  intervening  cloud, — should  spontaneously 
produce  the  thorn  and  noxious  thistle.  He  saw  also  with 
vivid  perception  the  obstructions  to  man's  occupations,  the 
toils  which  would  be  imposed  on  him  by  the  convulsions 
of  the  trembling  earth,  the  abasement  of  the  lofty  moun- 
tains, and  the  bowing  of"  the  perpetual  hills,"  that  would 
ensue  when,  for  the  wickedness  of  man: — 

"  tlie  earth  should  pour 

Rain  day  and  night;  all, foundations  of  the  deep 
J5roke  up,  should  heave  the  ocean  to  usurp 
Beyond  all  bounds,  and  inundations  rise 
Above  the  highest  hills." 

He  too  knew  the  period,  when  the  elements  of  nature 
would  come  at  his  bidding,  saying,  "  Here  are  we,  ready 
to  co-operate  in  thy  providential  designs,  either  to  form  thy 
chariot,  on  which  thou  wilt  ride  forth  to  judgment,  or  to 
mark  the  pathway,  on  which  thou  wilt-descend  as  a  father 
to  chasten  thy  erring  children!"  And  while  beholding 
the  consequences  that  would  hereafter  result  from  the 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.         23 

operation  of  the  curse  tin  material  things  induced  by  man's 
sin,  and  the  punitive  power  with  which  thenceforward 
they  would  be  invested,  with  prospective  wisdom  the  Al- 
mighty so  formed  his  constitution,  as  to  render  a  success- 
ful struggle  with  these  opposing  principles  a  means  of 
strengthening  not  only  his  physical,  but  also  his  mental 
nature;  and  thus  afforded  him  opportunities  for  rising  to  a 
station  of  dignity  and  importance  in  the  moral  universe, 
to  which  he  would  not  h,ave  attained,  had  his  position  been 
one  involving  no  necessity  for  invigorating  conflicts. — 
There  was  poetic  beauty  as  well  as  profound  wisdom 
couched  in  the  classic  fable  of  Hercules,  who,  according 
to  the  ancients,  was  decreed  by  the  gods  to  immortality, 
and  to  attest  his  divine  anger  only  by  a  continuous  conflict 
with,  and  conquest  of,  a  host  of  the  most  formidable  oppo- 
nents. 

As  the  descendant  of  the  first  Adam,  the  sinner  inherits 
as  a  part  of  his  birthright,  the  appointment  to  toil  and 
conflict,  both  physical  and  moral, — without,  external 
temptations  beset, — within,  his  own  inbred  corruptions; 
but  when  "justified  by  faith,"  he  finds  "  peace  with  God," 
he  is  admitted  to  the  blessed  privileges  of  a  regenerate 
son  of  the  second  Adam, — the  Lord  from  heaven; — and 
he  receives  the  charter  of  a  heavenly  inheritance  sealed 
with  the  signet  of  his  Lord,  and  made  sure  to  him  on  this 
condition:  "  To  him  that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  with 
me  in  my  throne,  even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set 
down  with  my  Father  in  his  throne." 

There  were  important  plans  of  the  Governor  of  the 
universe  to  be  forwarded,  which  required  an  agent  such 
as  man  would  always  be,  did  he  by  faith  in  the  Redeemer, 
but  conform  his  character  to  the  manifested  will  of  his 
Creator;  an  agent  fitted  to  exercise  dominion  in  the  world 


24         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

of  mind  and  matter, — one  who  could  maintain  his  suprem- 
acy by  power  strengthened  by  influence,  but  not  by 
power,  created  by  influence. 

If,  in  the  sentence  inflicted  on  Adarn  as  a  penalty,  a  re- 
ference may  be  seen  to  the  peculiarities  of  man's  con- 
stitution  and  destiny,  may  there  not  be  discovered  in  that 
passed  on  his  partner  in  transgression,  a  satisfactory  expla- 
nation of  facts  connected  with  the  history  of  woman  in 
every  age  ?  Sorrows,  mental  and  physical,  were  by  the 
terms  of  that  decision  to  be  abundantly  multiplied  unto 
her,  and  she  was  decreed  to  circumstances  of  temporal 
subjection  to  man,  who  henceforward  as  her  lord  and 
master,  was  to  rule  over  her.  Most  literally  and  univer- 
sally has  this  prediction  been  fulfilled.  During  all  ages, 
from  the  times  of  the  patriarchs  to  the  era  of  the  19th 
century, — in  all  climes,  from  the  icy  regions  of  the  frozen 
zone,  to  the  fervid  sands  and  luxuriant  groves  of  the  torrid, 
has  woman's  history  substantially  harmonized  with  the 
divine  declaration.  As  nations  have  progressively  advan- 
ced in  civilisation  and  refinement,  there  has  been  indeed, 
a  perceptible  difference  manifested  in  their  appreciation 
of  the  female  character;  but  since  the  promulgation  of 
Christianity,  though  her  relative  position  has  not  been 
materially  altered,  as  the  Gospel  authorizes  and  sanctions 
the  subjection  imposed  by  the  judicial  sentence  pronoun- 
ced on  woman,  yet  has  her  temporal  condition  with  that 
of  her  species  at  large,  been  exceedingly  improved,  while 
her  spiritual  interests  have  been  secured  on  a  broad  and 
imperishable  basis,  if  she  reject  not  the  blessings  so  freely 
and  mercifully  set  before  her:  "There  is  neither  male 
nor  female;  for  ye  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus." 

Many  strenuous  attempts  have  been  made,  by  the  fair 
advocates  of  equal  rights,  to  secure  for  their  sex  certain 


STATION   PROVIDENTIALLY   APPOINTED.  25 

privileges,  both  sociafand  political,  of  which  it  is  affirmed 
woman  has  been  unjustly  and  arbitrarily  deprived,  to  her 
own  detriment  and  to  that  of  mankind  at  large;  while  the 
justice  and  wisdom  of  the  Almighty  in  assigning  to  her  a 
subordinate  place 'in  the  social  and  political  relations,  is 
called  in  question,  as  if  it  were  not  an  assumption,  but  a 
verity,  that  habits  of  submission  necessarily  presuppose 
inferiority  in  the  party  subjected, — an  opinion,  the  fahity 
of  which  I  shall  not  now  pause  to  consider.  But  even 
were  it  an  established  truth,  that  the  humble  employments 
and. circumscribed  sphere  to  which  woman  was  assigned 
without  her  instrumentality,  were  calculated  to  degrade 
her  in  the  universe  of  God,  I  know  not  on  what  ground, 
as  a  sinner  redeemed  by  grace  alone$  she  can  presume  to 
rebel  against  the  decision  of  her  Supreme  Ruler.  She 
will  rather  recall  the  moment  when  her  maternal  head  and 
representative  stood  before  the  bar  of  God,  as  a  criminal 
justly  obnoxious  to  punishment.  As  Eve  had  taken  prece- 
dency in  sin,  so  might  she  have  anticipated  a  severer  con- 
demnation; nor  let  her  daughters  presume  to  arraign  the 
conduct  of  her  judge.  "  Shall  the  thing  formed  of  clay 
say  to  him  that  formed  it,  why  hast  thou  made  me  thus  ? 
Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay,  of  the  same 
lump  to  make  one  vessel  unto  honor  and  another  to 
dishonor  ?" 

It  is  not,  however,  a  fact,  that  woman  was  "  a  vessel 
formed  for  dishonor;"  and  appointed  to  an  inferior  mis- 
sion under  the  divine  economy.  The  external,  visible  and 
temporal  scene  in  which  we  are  now  moving  is  but  the 
vestibule  of  God's  great  temple;  a  narrow  and  often  dark 
passage  through  which  we  must  pass,  and  wherein  thou- 
sands can  be  clothed  with  the  pure  vestments  wherein, 
they  are  to  soar  to  immortality  before  reaching  the  great 

3 


26         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

city,  the  holy  Jerusalem,  in  the  which  there  is  to  be  "no 
need  of  the  sun,  neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  in  it;  for  the 
glory  of  GooF  is  to  "  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof." 

While  reverently  submitting  to  his  mandates  who  as- 
signed woman  her  relative  position  in  society,  under 
circumstances  which,  at  first  sight  might  savor  ef  harsh- 
ness, let  us  with  docile  and  inquiring  spirits  seek  to  disco- 
ver whether  there  may  not  be  some  alleviation,  if  not  an 
adequate  compensation  for  these  seeming  ills.  Truly 
there  are  mercies,  special  mercies,  involved  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  curse  imposed  on  our  sex,  and  like  the  re- 
nowned Israelitish  leader,  we  may  extract  our  sweetest 
nutriment  from  the  lips  of  the  avenger,  who  may  per- 
haps, heretofore,  have  been  viewed  solely  as  the  messenger 
of  evil. 

Regenerate  woman  was  destined  to  no  ignoble  office  in 
the  moral  universe,  but  like  the  Graces  of  ancient  story, 
was  commissioned  to  develope  in  harmonious  and  matured 
beauty  those  virtues,  by  whose  presence  even  the  wilder- 
ness of  Ibis  world  was  to  be  made  "  to  rejoice  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose.''  The  highest  happiness  of  man  has  been 
made  by  God  to  consist  in  the  pure  and  elevated  tone  of 
moral  feelings  which  can  only  result  from  a  cordial  and 
believing  reception  of  Christianity,  and  not  in  the  mere 
nominal  assent  to  its  truths,  and  in  the  consequent  con- 
formity to  the  standard  of  faith  and  holiness  placed  before 
him  in  the  Word  of  God.  If  the  ultimate  design  of  God 
in  his  dispensations  towards  our  race  be  inquired  after, 
the  page  of  Scripture  will  be  found  yielding  a  ready  re- 
sponse to  the  interrogatory:  "  this  is  the  will  of  God,  even 
your  sanctification ;"  the  Lord  Jesus  who  primarily  "  came 
to  seek  and  save  that  which  was  lost,"  "  suffered  also  for  us, 


STATION    PRO  VIDE  NTIALLV   APPOINTED.  27 

leaving  us  an  example  that  we  should  follow  his  steps," 
and  assures  us  that  he  came  down  from  heaven,  not  to  do 
his  own  will,  but  the  will  of  his  Father;  '•  my  meat,"  said 
he,  "  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  me.  And  this  is 
the  Father's  will  which  hath  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he 
hath  given  rne  I  should  lose  nothing,  hut  should  raise  it 
up  again  at  the  last  day."  God  then  has  not  left  us  igno- 
rant of  what  was  the  design  of  our  creation  and  redemp- 
tion, and  consequently  what  should  be  the  end  and  aim  of 
our  being.  It  appears  obvious  that  that  dispensa- 
tion would  seem  most  perfect  and  most  fraught  with  bless- 
ings and  mercies  to  the  subjects  of  it,  which  should  most 
especially  tend  to  accomplish  the  great  purposes  of  our 
Maker.  "VVe  firmly  believe  that  the  circumstances  in 
which  woman  has  been  placed  arc,  when  viewed  aright, 
and  by  the  grace  of  God  duly  Improved,  powerfully  calcu- 
lated to  devcfope  and  foster  those  Christian  virtues  which 
the  Word  of  God  specifies  as  the  most  important  attributes 
of  the  renewed  nature,  and  the  possession  of  which  is  the 
test,  though  not  the  ground  of  our  acceptance,  which  can 
alone  be  found  in  the  one,  full,  and  complete  oblation  and 
satisfaction  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

If  such  be  the  case,  then  may  woman,  if  true  to  herself, 
find  an  ample  recompense  for  any  severity  in  the  terms  of 
the  penal  sentence,  by  which  her  situation  in  society  has 
been  determined.  Experience  as  well  as  philosophy  cor- 
roborates the  truth,  that  there*  is  a  tendency  in  our  nature 
leading  us  to  find  increased  facility  in  every  successive  re- 
petition of  actions,  to  the  performance  .of  which,  natural 
feelings  had  created  a  disinclination.  Thus  the  child  who 
from  the  dawn  of  reason  has  been  trained  to  habits  of  un- 
reserved obedience  in  minor  points  of  duty,  will  be  found 
the  most  prompt  in  evincing  the  same  spirit  when  great  in 


28  YTO.MAIVis    STATION    PEOVIDEXTIALLY    A 

tcrcsts  are  involved, — and  in  after  years  he  will  prove 
himself  the  most  scrupulous  observer  of  the  laws  of  his 
country, —  the  best  conservative,  whatever  his  station  may 
be.  So  on  the  same  principle,  may  Christian  women, 
while  yielding  submission  to  the  law  which  imposed  on 
them  subjection  to  earthly  masters,  as  one  of  the  statutes 
framed  by  the  unerring  wisdom  of  the  legislator  of  the 
universe,  find  the  habit  of  deference  towards  those  to  whom 
temporal  supremacy  has  been  delegated,  rendered  subser- 
vient to  the  promotion  of  their  highest  interests.  Submis- 
sion to  an  Almighty  Ruler  becomes  immeasurably  less 
difficult,  when  the  mind  has  been  accustomed  to  recognize 
the  authority,  and  cheerfully  to  conform  to  the  will  of  an 
earthly  master,  as  a  law  emanating  from  Supreme  Intelli- 
gence. When  "in  singleness  of  heart  as  unto  Christ," 
and  in  the  exercise  of  a  lively  faith,  this  portion  of  the 
divine  law  is  received  by  woman,  as  of  personal  obligation, 
and  when  by  God's  help,  she  frames  her  moral  nature  ac- 
cordingly, she  will  find  herself 

"  advanced 

Far  nearer  in  the  habit  of  her  soul 
To  that  still  region  whither  all  are  bound." 

JSor  let  her  in  the  pride  of  her  heart,  rebel  against  this 
enactment,  as  one  calculated  to  cramp  and  degrade  her 
in  the  scale  of  moral  being.  The  attributes  of  God's  cha- 
racter at  once  repel  such  an  idea.  It  is  the  motives  of  ac- 
tion, which  ennoble  the  individual,  not  the  nature  of  his 
employment,  in  the  eyes  of  those  capable  of  justly  appre- 
ciating moral  excellence;  and  religion  secures  woman  while 
in  the  intelligent  performance  of  duty,  from  scriptural 
motives,  from  a  SCKSC  of  degradation.  Her  Almighty  Pa- 
rent's design  in  her  creation  frill  not  be  accomplished  by 


STATION   PROVIDENTIALLY   APPOINTED.  29 

her,  if  she  receives  the  law  without  seeking  to  understand 
the  principles  on  which  it  was  based,  and  the  result  to 
which  its  observance  was  intended  to  lead  her  individu- 
ally;— she  will  otherwise  passively  and  indolently  yield  to 
its  requirements  as  if  from  painful  necessity,  and  become 
a  mere  automaton  in  the  hands  of  man,  impelled  to  the  ex- 
ercise of  her  motive  powers,  mental  and  physical,  solely 
by  the  manifested  will  of  her  superior  in  creation.  No! 
Her  Maker  in  designating  her  to  a  peculiar  post  in  the 
economy  of  grace,  contemplated  far  higher  results,  and  we 
firmly  believe  that  in  marking  out  her  station  and  employ- 
ments, he  expressly  arranged  them  in  such  a  manner  that 
hy  the  operation  of  a  living  principle  within,  she  would  be 
stimulated  to  persevering  effort  and  uniform  contest  with 
the  corruptions  of  a  fallen  nature  by  which  she  would 
more  especially  be  assailed  from  the  nature  of  her  prescri- 
bed duties,  and  to  such  ardent  aspirations,  after  conformity 
to  the  divine  image,  that  she  might  be  more  continually 
reminded  of  her  entire  dependence  on  her  Redeemer  as  a 
deliverer  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin ; — and  thus  amidst 
her  weakness  and  infirmities  might  more  effectually  "  press 
towards  the  mark  lor  the  prize  of  the  high  calling  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus." 

Meekness,  humility,  gentleness,  love,  purity,  self-renun- 
ciation, subjection  of  will,  are  especially  characterized  as 
the  fruits  of  the  spirit,  and  the  most  important  attributes  of 
our  nature,  in  the  full  development  of  which,  the  immortal 
and  glorified  soul  is  to  show  forth  its  perfection  by  him, 
whose  perceptions  of  moral  beauty  far  exceed  those  which 
can  be  realized  by  the  highest  exercise  of  the  finite  "intel- 
lect. This  class  of  virtues  woman  was  appointed  to  mani- 
fest, and  her  sphere  of  action,  as  a  fallen  creature,  was  most 
happily  adapted  to  perfect  and  matu  re  their  growth.  The 


30         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

belief  appears  almost  universally  to  have  obtained,  thai 
her  nature  was  designed  to  be  the  most  genial  soil  for 
maturing  the  heavenly  seed,  since  even  among  heathen 
nations  we  find  her  constantly  associated  as  the  prominent 
agent  in  the  sacred  rites  of  superstitious  observance.  In 
the  Pythia  of  Delphi,  the  Syballai  and  Vestates  of  Rome, 
before  whom  the  wisest  and  proudest  citizens  were  com- 
pelled to  bow  in  reverential  homage,  we  may  read  an  in- 
stinctive impression  that  woman  was  commissioned  to 
guard  the  most  sacred  elements  of  our  common  nature,  and 
the  same  truth  is  corroborated  in  ancient  mythology. 
Does  not  the  voice  of  public  opinion  tacitly  sanction  the 
same  view  in  imperatively  demanding  as  the  appropri- 
ate and  crowning  graces  of  the  female  character,  the  ex- 
hibition of  those  virtues,  which  in  their  outward  manifesta- 
tions, make  the  nearest  approach  of  which  unassisted 
human  nature  is  capable,  to  the  characteristic  beauties  of 
the  Christian  pattern.  Even  when  cultivated  on  such 
principles  as  natural  religion  dictates,  they  are  the  iai rest 
flowers  which  our  fallen  world  can  produce,  though  then 
at  best  marred  and  imperfect  adumbrations  of  the  lovely 
growth  of  celestial  origin,  of  which  we  may  affirm,  "  It  is 
the  spirit  that  quickeneth,  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing." 

In  the  ear  of  Christian  women  of  refined  and  cultivated 
minds  and  of  sound  judgments,  there  is  ever  a  still  small 
voice  whispering  to  them  in  accents  the  most  persuasive, 
and  bidding  them  resist  the  sophistries  of  a  shallow  and 
false  philosophy,  and  sedulously  to  cultivate  (hat  class  of 
virtues  which  harmonize  the  most  nearly  with  the  purposes 
of  the  divine  mind. 

These  views  may  be  objected  to  as  fanciful  and  unso- 
phistical,  and  the  variations  in  the  manifestations  of  female 
and  male  character  may  be  explained  by  the  different  re- 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.        31 

lative  position  which  "the  two  sexes  occupy  in  society. 
But  if  the  part  assigned  to  woman  in  the  vast  and  diversi- 
fied economy  of  human  life,  be  of  necessity  essentially  dis- 
tinct in  many  of  its  features  from  that  to  which  man  has 
been  called,  is  it  irrational  to  suppose  that  she  may,  by  the 
wisdom  and  benevolence  of  her  Creator,  have  been  organi- 
zed both  materially  and  immaterially,  with  a  special 
adaptation  to  her  destined  sphere  of  action,  when  by  the 
grace  of  God  she  should  be  made  to  see  the  responsibili- 
ties of  her  situation  as  the  most  efficient  moral  guardian 
and  guide  of  the  human  race  ? 

In  the  infinite  richness  of  imaginative  power,  Jehovah 
delighted  to  model  in  distinct  forms  of  beauty,  the  arche- 
types of  the  mineral,  vegetable  and  inferior  orders  of  ani- 
mal creation;  pausing  at  each  successive  step,  he  sent 
forth  in  the  advancing  ranks  only  such  as  ascended,  one 
by  one,  in  the  scale  of  existence,  above  those  that  preceded 
them,  until  man,  the  lord  of  all,  appeared,  created  in  the 
image  of  his  Maker,  and  designed  to  shadow  forth  the 
perfection  of  the  Divine  Mind.  At  that  moment,  Jehovah 
paused  in  his  glorious  work,  and  resumed  the  exercise  of 
his  peculiar  functions,  only  to  prepare  for  Adam  his  help- 
meet and  companion, — woman.* 

As  every  preceding  step  of  his  progressive  work  had 
been  characterized  by  the  production  of  a  higher  exhibi- 
tion of  the  material  principle,  it  would  seem  improbable, 
that  the  crowning  and  closing  act  would  have  been  marked 
by  an  imperfect  fac-simile  of  a  previous  creation.  Reason 
and  revelation  would  on  the  contrary  lead  us  to  anticipate 
in  woman,  an  original  being, — one  advanced,  rather  than 
degraded  below  her  predecessor  in  destiny.  Her  earthly 

*  Blockhouse's  History  of  the  Bible.    Chapter  I. 


32         WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

nature  was  indeed  formed  of  materials  furnished  from  the 
mortal  frame-work  of  man.  but  the  etherial  essence  which, 
quickened  into  life,  was  imparted  when  her  Maker  breath- 
ed into  the  lifeless  form,  a  portion  of  his  divine  and  vivify- 
ing spirit;  and  may  we  not  consider  these  two  distinct 
emanations  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  as  special  and  separate 
acts  of  consecration  on  the  part  of  the  divine  head,  by 
which  the  progenitors  of  our  race  were  severally  designa- 
ted as  commissioned  co-workers  under  the  supervision  of 
"  him  who  worketh  all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  own 
will  ?" 

It  may  possibly  be  asserted  that  arguments  contravening 
the  opinion,  that  woman  was  destined  to  a  holy  and  honora- 
ble office  under  the  divine  economy,  as  the  most  effective 
instrument  in  the  moral  regeneration  of  a  fallen  world, 
may  be  furnished  by  the  fact  that  through  succeeding  ages 
her  relative  position  has  been  substantially  the  same,  in 
its  characteristic  distinctions  of  inferiority  and  seclusion. 
In  the  foregoing  pages  the  writer  has  attempted  to  show 
the  tendency  of  woman1  s  subordinate  position  when  recogni- 
zed and  submitted  to  on  religious  principles,  to  mature  the 
very  graces  which  the  word  of  God  specifies  as  essential 
features  of  the  renewed  and  sanctified  nature;  and  she 
would  now  suggest  whether  the  circumstances  of  seclusion 
to  which  the  female  sex  are  restricted,  may  not  be  found 
equally  conducive  to  their  spiritual  improvement.  The 
diligent  and  humble  minded  student  of  the  sacred  volumes, 
while  poring  over  the  narratives  it  contains,  will  assidu- 
ously seek  to  collect  facts  in  order  that  she  may  generalize 
from  them  practical  purposes.  While  doing  so  it  will  be- 
come apparent  that  the  most  distinguished  characters  de- 
scribed therein  are  represented  as  having  been  prepared 
in  seclusion  for  the  exercise  of  the  important  spiritual 


WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED.         33 

functions  to  which  thqy  have  been  especially  appointed. 
Thus  Moses,  previous  to  "his  entrance  on  his  arduous  and 
momentous  duties  as  lawgiver  to  the  church  of  God,,  twice 
passed  forty  days  and  nights  in  holy  retirement.  In  sacred 
seclusion  did  vElijah  and  Elisha,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah  and 
Ezekiel,  under  the  ancient  dispensation,  gird  on  the  divine 
panoply  wherewith  they  went  forth  to  withstand  the  as- 
saults of  the  world  and  the  flesh,  as  well  as  of  the  prince 
of  darkness,  and  to  speed  on  their  Lord's  appointed  work. 
In  the  lone  and  dreary  wilderness,  did  the  Son  of  God 
humbly  retire  preparatory  to  the  opeu  assumption  of  the 
duties  of  his  mediatorial  office, .though  he  went  rather  as 
our  surety  and  champion  to  conflict  with  and  conquer  the 
prince  of  this  world,  the  great  adversary  of  his  people. — 
When  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  was  to  be  fitted 
and  trained  for  his  career  of  glorious  missionary  exertion, 
and  the  once  .sanguinary  Saul  of  Tarsus  was  to  be  instruct- 
ed in  tho  knowledge  of  4i  whatsoever  things  were  pure, 
lovely  and  of  good  report," — when  the  bitter  persecutor 
was  to  be  taught  to  emulate  the  gentleness  of  a  nurse 
cherishing  her  children, — then  was  he  not  sent,  as  human 
wisdom  might  have  dictated,  ';  to  Jerusalem,  to  them 
which  were  apostlps  before"  him,  to  receive  counsel  and 
tuition,  but  to  a  three  years  sojourn  in  a  secluded  part  of 
Arabia;  in  privacy,  removed  from  the  active  scenes  of  * 
busy  and  bustling  world,  the  depths  of  his  corrupt  nature 
were  sounded,  and  the  knowledge  of  his  Lord  and  "  the 
power  of  his  resurrection"  attained,  by  which  he  was  to 
be  enabled  thenceforward  to  have  his  conversation  in  hea- 
ven, and  to  "  walk  in  love  as  Christ  also  had  loved  him," 
until  he  rapidly  advanced  toward  the  **  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fulness  of  Christ,"  and  became  a  bright  and 
instructive  example  of  Christian  faith  and  holiness. 


34        WOMAN'S  STATION  PROVIDENTIALLY  APPOINTED. 

Let  not  woman  then  repine,  if  being  called  to  a  mission 
of  the  highest  importance  to  man  as  a  moral  heing,  she 
has  in  conformity  to  the  example  of  her  Lord  and  his 
apostles  and  prophet?,  to  he  trained  for  service  in  the 
shades  of  retirement  and  in  the  exercise  of  duties  which 
may  seem  distasteful  to  the  eye  of. -sense  accustomed  to 
measure  objects  by  a  standard  accommodated  only  to  the 
perceptions  of  the  unsanctificd  nature. 

An  attempt  has  now  been  made  to  ascertain  the  station 
allotted  to  the  female  sex  in  the  dispensation  of  providence 
to  a  fallen  race:  the  duties  incident  to  it,  both  in  relation 
to  God  and  our  fellow-creatures,  will  require  ntlcntivc 
consideration,  and  may  be  treated  more  advantageously 
under  several  distinct  heads.-  It  may  be  well  to  examine- 
by  the  combined  light  of  history  and  observation,  how  far 
woman  has  in  the  different  ages  of  the  world,  and  under 
varying  dispensations  been  conforming  to  the  declared  in- 
tentions of  her  Maker.  As  the  human  heart  is  naturally 
.'it  enmity  with  God,  and  its  volitions  are  only  made  to  ac- 
cord with  his,  when  it  is  regenerated  and  sanctified  by  the 
spirit  of  holiness,  so  might  it  be  rationally  expected,  that 
mankind  would  be  continually  endeavoring,  cither  directly 
or  indirectly,  in  this  particular,  as  in  others,  to  counteract 
the  divine  intentions,  r-ithcr  by  seeking  to  place  woman 
in  a  situation  different  from  that  assigned  her  by  her  Maker 
and  Redeemer,  or  by  education  in  capacitating  her  for  the 
legitimate  exercise  of  her  specific  functions. 

A\  bile  we  believe  that  the  plan  devised  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  mankind  from  sin,  and  their  restoration  to  holiness 
and  happiness,  was  sketched  by  one  who  was  perfectly 
aware  of  the  necessities  of  our  nature,  and  was  adapted 
to  the  necessities  of  all  who  will  conform  to  it,  we  arc 
constrained  to  acknowledge  that  there  always  has  been, 


WOMAN  S    STATION    PROVIDENTIALLY   APPOINTED.  35 

and  still  continue  to  be,  many  who  voluntarily  deprive 
themselves  of  the  benefits  designed  by  God  for  them.  If 
woman's  station  was  specifically  adapted  to  further  the 
attainment  of  this  great  end,  to  her  personally^and  to  her 
species  at  large  by  her  agency,  it  by  no  means  follous  that 
she  will  universally  conform  her  desires  or  her  conduct  to 
her  true  destiny.  She  is  utterly  incapable  of  doing  either, 
unless  she  is  made  a  new  creature  by  faith  in  Christ  Je- 
sus; of  course  it  will  necessarily  follow  that  under  these 
dispensations  alone,  where  moral  light  is  diffused  freely 
and  fully,  will  she  by  her  course  of  actions  harmonize  with 
the  will  of  her  Maker.  We  shall  find  on  attentive  ex- 
amination of  the  history  of  the  most  polished  and  intellec- 
tual heathen  nations,  that  the  female  sex  occupied  a  posi- 
tion very  inferior  in  importance  to  that  held  by  it  under 
the  Jewish  or  Christian  dispensation,  and  that  in  proportion 
to  the  moral,  and  not  intellectual,  character  of  a  people, 
will  be  the  estimation  in  which  women  arc  held,  and  the 
extent  of  influence  exerted  by  them. 


CHAPTER    II. 

DUTIES    ASSIGNED    TO    WOMAN    IN    HER    STATION. 

Before  entering  on  the  specification  of  the  duties  assign- 
ed to  \voman  in  her  station,  I  earnestly  desire  to  be  pro- 
perly understood  as  to  the  ground  on  which  their  perform- 
ance is  supposed  to  be  based.  In  asserting  the  opinion, 
that  woman  was  designed  to  act  as  the  most  important 
instrument  in  the  regeneration  of  a  fallen  world,  by 
by  the  moral  agency  which  she  was  to  exert  in  the  mani- 
festation of  those  Christian  graces,  especially  designated 
by  Scripture,  as  the  fruits  of  the  spirit,  I  would  be  deeply 
grieved  if  I  should  be  considered  as  implying  that  there 
could  be  any  foundation  for  a  presentation  of  meritorious 
claims  to  reward,  by  her,  on  the  fulfilment  of  diuy;  as  if 
the  purchase  of  eternal  life,  or  the  graces  of  the  spirit, 
were  to  be  received  by  "  the  works  of  the  law,  and  not  by 
the  hearing  of  faith." 

No!  She  is  to  discharge  her  appointed  task  in  the  uni- 
verse of  God,  not  as  a  hireling  endeavoring  to  mete  out 
her  labors,  cheered  by  the  expectation  of  a  remuneration 
earned  by  her  own  industry, — but  as  a  dear  child,  in  the 
spirit  of  love;  she  is  to  seek  to  know  and  do  her  Father's 
will ;  feeling  powerless  in  herself,  but  depending  confidently 
on  the  strength  promised  her  by  him  as  her  covenant,  God 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Whatever  she  does  in  her  station,  must 
be  done  "  heartily  as  to  the  Lord — not  with  eye  service 
as  men  pleasers,  but  in  singleness  of  heart  as  unto  God." 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN   IN   HER    STATION.  37 

The  most  important  channel  through  which  woman  was 
to  direct  her  speciabmoral  agency,  was-that  of  the  maternal 
relation.  Philosophy  and  religion  concur  in  pointing  out 
the  tendency.of-early  impressions  in  shaping  the  moral  and 
intellectual  character,  more  especially  the  former,  and  ex- 
perience confirms  (he  (ruth  of-the  opinion.  Mos,t  desirable 
ivas  it,  then,  that,  the  appointed  guardians  of  the  moral  in- 
terests of  man,  should  be  invested  with  certain  distinctive 
privileges,  Sfy,  virtue  of  which  they  would  be  enabled  to 
exert  a  peculiar  measure  of  irfiuer.cc  over  that  precious 
treasure  committed  to* (heir  keeping,  at  the  period  when 
it  is  in  a  ductile  state,  and  most. capable  of  being  acted 
upon  by  extern-it  agency. 

In  the  implantation  of  a  special  instinctive  affection  as 
an  element  of  the' material  constitution,  distinct  from  the 
operation  of  moral  principle  and  reason;  and  in  the  be- 
nevolent arrangement  by  whjcb  woman's  physical  organi- 
zation was'endued  with  the  power  of  generating  nourish- 
ment peculiarly  appropriated  for  the  sustenance  of  the 
infant  frame,  during  the  period  when  the  delicacy  of  its 
material  structure  makes  such  a  provision  necessary,  we 
find  two  powerful  auxiliaries  provided  by  Providence  to 
aid  her  in  the  discharge  o£  her  moral  functions.  An  im- 
portant purpose  was  certainly  designed  to  be  subserved, 
by  the  introduction  of  the  highest  order  of  creation  into 
existence,  in  a  condition  of  physical  weakness  and  helpless 
dependence  Air  exceeding  that  of  any  of  the  inferior  orders 
of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  this  object  was  most  happily 
and  effectually  secured.  As  the  very  exigency  of  circum- 
stances in  which  the  new  born  babe  is  placed  when  usher- 
ed into  being,  points  out  the  necessity  of  superadding  some 
new  and  impulsive  emotion  in  the  mother's  breast,  to  carry 
her  onward  i»i  a  course  of  devoted  and  self-denying  exer- 

4 


38  DUTIES    ASSIGNED    TO   WOMAN    IN    HER    STATION. 

tion,  for  which  an  extraordinary  stimulant  is  requisite,  so 
the  physical  interests  of  man  were  guarded  by  the  opera- 
tion of  the  maternal  principle,  impelling  to  the  discharge 
of  the  maternal  functions,  while  the  occasion  of  their  ex- 
ercise was  to  .be  instrumental, in  cementing  "  into  a  stronger, 
holier  and  more  enduring  bond  of  union,''  the  chain  by 
which  the  maternal  nature  was  connected  with,  that  of  the 
child.  A  mothers  bosom  having  been  provided  as  a 
sanctuary  to  which  the  helpless  babe  might  instinctively 
flee  for  the  solace  of  its  infantile  griefs,  and  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  highest  gratifications  df  which  its  imperfectly 
developed  faculties  are  susceptible;  it  was  to  learn  instinc- 
tively to  associate  its  most  "pleasurable  emotions  with  her 
image,  anid  consequently  to  become  more  accessible  to  the 
influences  winch  shie  might  exert  o.ver  it, '  iha.ri  to  those 
presented  through  any  other  •medium.  -While  engaged  in 
sending  forth  the  warm  and  genial  current  from  her-  own 
frame,  to  solace  the  bodily  necessities  of  her  babe,  the  mo- 
ther was  to  find  an  opportunity,  for  eliciting  on  its  fair  face 
the  careless  manifestations  of  its  being  a  creature  of 
celestial  origin. 

By  that  precious  but  fleeting  response  of  her  expression 
of  affection,  the  Christian  parent  was  to  be  reminded  of 
the  dignity  of  her-ofiiee;  having  awakened  the. affections 
of  her  child,  she  was  thenceforward  to  employ  the  power- 
ful influence  thereby  acquired,  in  seeking,  as  her  peculiar 
dut}r,  to  train  it  for  immortality, — to  "draw  it  with  the 
cords  of  love."  This  powerful  principle  of  attraction  the 
Almighty  recognized  and  sanctions  by  his  own  example. 
Love  animated  the  Father  to  devise,  the  Son  to  execute, 
and  the  Spirit  to  co-operate  in  the  glorious  work  of  re- 
demption. "  I  drew  them  with  cords  of  a  man,  with  bonds 
of  love,"  says  the  Lord  himself,  when  speaking  of  his 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN   IN   HER    STATION.  39 

ancient  people.  The  human  heart  was  then  constituted 
in  such  a  manner'th'at  it  could  be  most  efFeictually  moved 
and  roused  from  its  state  of  inaction  and  insensibility  ot 
moral  feeling,  by  striking  some  chord  of  the  affections. — 
While  Scripture  attests  these  truths,  it  also  teaches  that 
mothers  possess  o  peculiar  fitness  for  carrying  it  into  exe- 
cution; siflcc  by  implication  it  sanctions  the  opinio.nr  that 
their  love' transcends  in  depth  and  tenacity,  that  of  all 
ojher  human  weings.  "Can  a  woman.,"  Jehovah  inquires, 
"  forget  her  sucking  child,  that  she  should  not  have  com- 
passion on  the  son  of  her  womb  ?  Yea  they  may  forget, 
but 'J- will  not  forget  thee!"  ' 

vln  asserting  the  belief,  that  the  moral  regeneration  of 
-mankind,  through  the  means  of  a  sanctified  influence  sent 
forth  to  act  on  the  infant  race,  before  corruptions  should 
have  become,  fully  developed,  and  evil  habits  strengthened 
by  perseverance  in  ill-doing,  was  the  first  and  leading  ob- 
ject to  which  woman  was  commissioned  under  the  divine 
economy,  I  would  not  be  supposed  to  imply,  by  any 
means,  that  it"<vas'the  intention  of  her  Maker  to  restrict 
her  operations  as  a  moral  agent  to  this  one  field  of  useful- 
ness. 

Her  sphere  was  designed  to  be  of  wider  dimensions; 
and  while  her  ministrations  were  more  especially  to  be 
directed  to  the  ybu-ng,  she  Was  also  required  to  extend 
them  to  others  of  a  riper  age.  -The  Almighty  foresaw  that 
man  would  be  compelled,  from  his  peculiar  circumstances, 
to  mix  in  the  turmoil  of  4he  world's  concerns,  and  una- 
voidably to  concentrate  much  of  his  natural  energy,  and 
occupy  a  large  portion  of  his  time  and  thoughts  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  allotted  work;  and  thus  be  tempted  by  an 
absorption  of  interest  in  temporal  things,  to  exclude  the 
wish  and  desire,  as.  well  as  the  eflbrt  to  attain  such  as  are 


40  DTTTIKS    ASSIGNED    TO    WOMAN    IN   HER    STATION. 

eternal  and  imperishable.  Or  if  by  the  operation  of  the 
spirit  of  God  on  his  heart,  he  should  be  elevated  to  a  higher 
position  on  the  stage  of  moral  being,  yet  it  was  seen,  that 
while  possessing  a  corrupt  nature,  the.  tendency  of  his 
lawful  professional  occupations,  and  secular  business, 
would  unavoidably  be,  if  not  fo  weaken  his  sense  of  moral 
responsibility,  at  least  to  impair  his  devotional  fervor  and 
to  engender  a  lukewarmness  of  spirit,  by  the  reaction  and 
weariness  of  his  physical  and  moral  powers,  induced  by 
his  habits  of  life.  -Under  such  circumstance?,  it  was  most 
desirable  for  man,  in  reference  to  his  highest  interest?, 
that  she  who  was  created  as  the  help-meet  both  for  his 
pO[qt;uo  oq  jtjiSmj  J9jn)»:u  JTMIDJUUIUJI  ptn:  jt!u.o)L'iu 
more  effectually  by  her  habits  of  seclusion,  to  preserve  the 
flame  of  devotion  habitually  in'more  lively  exercise  in  her 
own  bosom,  so  that  its  brilliancy  a.nd  -vitality  might  not 
only  cause  her  to  shine  in  the  beauty  of  holiness,  but  ena- 
ble her  also  to  cast  a  reflected  and  vivifying  li-ght  over  all 
who  might  come  within  her  sphere  of  influence. 

When  disabled  by  infirmity,  or.  worn  down  by  the  en- 
croachments of  disease,  the  pressure  of. pecuniary  anxiety, 
or  by  the  approach  of  death,  (hen  wns  woman  again"  to 
exercise  her  important  functions.  When  over  the  heart 
of  tho  SMfh-rcr  a  moral  darkness  had  crept,  which  obscur- 
ed the  light  of  conscience,  and  rendered  the  perceptions 
of  truth  obscure  and  distorted,  then  was  she  designed 
to  prove  a  ministering  angel  to- her  companion  ,r;nd  lord; 
Taking  her  station  at  his  side, 'vhen  "summer  friends  and 
flattering  foes,"  were  alike  deserting  him,  she  was  with 
one  hand  assiduously  to  exert  every  energy  lo  minister  to 
his  bodily  comfort,  while  with  the  other  she  was  to  seek 
to  hold  up  to  his  darkened  vision,  "  the  candle  of  the  Lord, 
to  search  out  all  the  inward  ports,"  assisting  him  by  her 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO    WOMAN   IN   HER   STATION.  41 

counsels,  her  prayers,  and  her  affectionate  but  faithful  in- 
structions, in  finding  out  the  plague-spot  resting  on  his 
heart. 

As  to  her  gentle  nursing  the  helpless  babe  was  to  be 
committed,  when  entering  on  the  new  and  untried  scenes 
of  existence,  and  as  her  hands  were  to  be  endowed  with 
a. peculiar  aptitude  for  ministering  to  the  necessities  of  its 
delicate  physical  structure,  while  the  instinctive  tender- 
nes-s  of  her  nature  was  to  lead  her  with  self-sacrificing 
affection,  to  delight  in  spending  and  being  spent  in  its  ser- 
vice, so  when  life  was  ebbing  to  its  close,  or  in  seasons  of 
temporary  debility  and  suffering,  was  woman  again  invol- 
untarily to  be  looked  to  as  the  nurse,  the  comforter,  and 
the  support  of  man!  As  she  was  to  receive  the  new  born 
soul  to  her  arms,  arid  in  its  budding  state  was  most  effec- 
tually impowered  to- foster  it  for  life,  or  when  unfaithful 
would  prove 'its  surest  guide  to -paths  of  evil,. — so  when 
the  spirit  of  one  in  riper  years  was  realizing  the  approach- 
ing separation  from  earthly  and  material  thing?,  to  woman 
was  the  dying  eye  instinctively  to  be  directed  for  sympa- 
thy, consolation,  or, holy  instruction! 

The  very  strength  of  her  affections  was  designed  to  lead 
her  to  forget  her  own  selfish  feelings  in  the  anxieties  of  the 
wife,  mother,  daughter  or  sister,  that  under  the  operation 
of  such  excitement,  the  physical  weakness  of  her  nature 
might  be  powerfully  nerved  for  endurance,  and  watchful 
nights  and  days  of  solicitude,  pass  over  her  without  causing 
that  exhaustion  which  stronger  frames,  under  the  influence 
of  less  absorbing  emotions,  will  be  found  almost  uniformly 
evincing. 

Many  and  numberless  were  the  occasions  foreseen  bj 
the  Almighty,  where  opportunities  of  usefulness  would  be 
presented  in  the  exercise  of  the  duties  of  their  allotted 

4* 


42  DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO    WOMAN   IK   HER    STATION. 

station,  to  members  of  the  female  sex,  by  which  they  would 
be  placed  in  the  most  responsible  situations  possible.  The 
solemnities  of  a  dying  chamber,  he  was  aware,  would  often 
seize  the  sufferer  by  surprise:  and  their  approach  rouse 
him  when  "dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,"  or  while  slum- 
bering in  the  nominal  profession  of  Christianity,  and  no 
heart  would  be  awakened  to  anxiety  for  his  spiritual  wel- 
fare, save  those  of  the  beloved  and  loving  female  relatives 
who  would  surround  his  bed;  their  tender  and  faithful 
exhort.'iiions, — their  judicious  and  scriptural  rxhibitions  of 
truth, — their  fervent,  importunate  and  persevering  pray- 
ers,— would  then  be  powerfully  efficacious  in  the  hand  of 
Providence  in  preventing  the  sun  of  the  departing  one 
from  going  down  in  darkness  and  gloom  forever!  When 
the  secret  transactions  of  the  chambers  of  death  shall  be 
unveiled  at  the  great  day,  It  will  probably  be  found,  that 
in  many,  many  a  one.  the  darkness  of  despair  has  vanish- 
ed by  the  blessing  of  God  having  accompanied  these  heart- 
stirring  and  solemn,  but  noiseless,  unobtrusive  exercises, 
of  woman,  in  one  of  her  appointed  iields  of  missionary 
exertion. 

The  sphere  of  female  influence,  however,  as  a  moral 
agent,  was  not  designed  to  be  confined  to  the  domestic 
circle.  Her  Lord  appointed  her  to  the  post  of  relative 
duty,  as  her  first  and  most  important  work,  and  that  which 
was  to  engage  the  largest  portion  of  her  time  and  thoughts, 
and  in  the  discharge  of  which  she  was  most  especially  to 
glorify  him.  But  he  likewise  commissioned  her  to  go 
to  his  brethren  also, — the  representatives  of  his  church. 
She  was  to  be  a  nursing-mother  to  the  Israel  of  God, — a 
teacher  to  the  lambs  of  his  flock;  a  special  visitor  to  the 
dwellings  of  the  indigent  and  afflicted;  a  ministering  spirit 
il  c  orphan  and  widow  in  the  seasons  of  bereavement 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN   IN   HER   STATION.  43 

and  necessity;  she  was  to  feed  the  hungry, — clothe  the 
naked, — to  smooth  the  pillow  of  the  sick  and  friendless, — 
in  short,  by  every  possible  means  consistent  with  feminine 
modesty  and  decorum,  she  was  to  imitate  the  example  of 
her  divine  Redeejner  in  his  ministrations  to  the  broken- 
hearted, the  mourner?,  and  the  prisoner  in  his  noisome 
dungeon.  While  placing  before  her,  her  Lord's  elevated 
standard  of  practical  godliness,  she. would,  it  was  seen,  be 
perpetually  reminded  of  her  natural  inability  to  obey  its 
holy  requirements,  and  would  thas,  under  the  teachings  of 
God's  Spirit,  be  effectually  convinced,  that  it  was  only  by 
the  exercise  of  living  faith  in  her  Redeemer,  working  by 
love,  that  she  could  be  enabled  to  make  her  course  of  ac- 
tion harmonize  with  the  will  of  God  in  her  creation. 

In  seeking  to  sketch  (he  duties  inseparable  from  wo- 
man's station,  we  have  heretofore  directed  our  attention 
to  such  as  are  comprised  under  the  head  of  moral  agency, 
and  in  which  action  was  to  be  applied  through  the  medium 
of  the  conscience  and  affection?.  Her  mission,  however, 
would,  it, was  foreseen,  not  fully  cover  all  the  ground 
assigned  for  its  operation,  if,  in  addition  to  her  first  and 
highest  source  of  influence,  she  was  not  enabled  to  combine 
sanctified  intellectual  effort.  This  would  be  more  espe- 
cially desirable  in  the  maternal  relation;  since  children, 
when  advanced  in  age  and  intelligence,  would  be  more 
readily  disposed  to  yield  submission  to  female  authority, 
and  thus  more  fully  realize  the  benefits  resulting  from 
female  influence,  when  it  was  enforced  and  expanded  by 
the  manifestation  of  mental  superiority. 

Much  was  to  be  also  effected  in  furthering  the  moral 
and  intellectual  interests  of  mankind^  by  intellectual  Chris- 
tian females,  who  with,  the  acuteness  of  perception  for 
which  their  sex  was  to  be  distinguished,  should  seek  to 


44  DUTIES    ASSIGNED   TO    WOMAN    IN     HER    STATION. 

ascertain  the  characteristic  traits  of  those,  over  whom 
they  were  to  he  empowered  to  exercise  influence;  and 
should  seize  every  favorable»oppoftwnity  which  might  he 
presented,  for  developing  the  idiom  of  constitution,  moral 
and  intellectual, — hy  detecting  and  fostering  the  natural 
bias  of  mind,  if  correct,  towards  particular  studies, — hy 
suggesting  trains  of  thoughts, — forming  mental  taste?, — 
influencing  the  choice  of  pursuits,  private  arid-professional, 
— seeking  to  unfold  the  youthful  energies  and  to  train  the 
scions  of  intellect  in  the  most  ad'vantagc.cus  manner  possi- 
ble, in  order  that  the  favored  recipients  of  these  rich  pro- 
vidential boons  might  be  the  most,  effectually  enabled  to 
glorify  the  Giver  of  them,  and  to  benefit  their  fellow-crea- 
tures. Nor  were  the  beneficial  effects  designed  to  flow 
from  the  combined  exercise  of  talent  and  pic!y  to  be  limit- 
ed in  their-scope  to  the  domestic  circle,  or  indirect  action 
by  suggestive. power  in  that  sphere  alone,  though  this  was 
to  be  the  chief  field  for  the  exercise  of  female  intelligence, 
as  of  all  other  means  of  influence  exerted,  by  them. 

Intelligent  Christian  women  were,  when  placed  in  cir- 
cumstance of  distinction,  to  become  instrumental  in  accele- 
rating the  onward  progress  of  literature  and  scientific 
discovery  as  well  as  in  promoting  the  religious  and  civil 
interests  of  mankind;  but  these  efforts,  in  order  to  their 
permanence  and  effectiveness,  were  to  be  chastened  by 
feminine  virtues.  They  were  to  be  the  efficient  patron- 
esses of  literary  merit, — the  generous  benefactresses  of 
the  votaries  of  religious  and  secular  learning, — the  nursing 
mothers  to  those  whose  enthusiastic  spirits,  chilled  and 
despoiled  by  collision  with  the  more  selfish  and  calculating 
minds  of  the  other  sex,  will  be  disposed  to  abandon  pro- 
jects, on  which  the  welfare  of  the  church  of  Christ,  the 


DITTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN    IN    HER   STATION.  45 

cause  of  science,  or  the  destinies  of  an  unknown  continent, 
were  dependent. 

The  mind  of  woman  was  also  fitted  for  usefulness  of 
yet  other  kinds.  It  was 'so  constituted,  that  it  might  be- 
come a  fountain,  from  which  might  he  siMit  forth  healing 
streams  to  fertilize  and  gladden  the  garden  of  the  Lord; 
and  more  especially  were  these  watt  rs,  when  purified,  as 
were  those  of  Ma  rah,  by  the  infusion  of  a  divine  medica- 
ment,— a  living  faith — calculated  to  alford  a  peculiarly 
beneficial  nutriment  to  the  tender  nurslings  in  the  vine- 
yard of .  thr;  Lord,  whose  well-doing  h  a  matter  of  espe- 
cial'interest  to  him.  But  the  intellectual  powers  of  re- 
gene  rate ^vomen,'as> embodied  in'their  writing?,  was  not 
to  be  limited  in  its-  sphere  of  action  to  the  young.  Many 
of  the  most  practical  and  influential  religious  writers  were 
to  be  sent  forth  from  their,  ranks, ;toL  instruct  and  enlighten 
their  fellow  creatures  of  riper  yea~rs;  yeM,,even  to  be  in- 
strumental in- the  conversion  of  many  ;ouls,  fettered  in  tho 
bondage  of  Satan.  Some  among  their  number  were  to  be 
commissioned  instructors  alike'at  trip  ftrcsidss  of  the  pea- 
sants and  in  the  princ'ely  mansions  of  the  nobles  and  poten- 
tates of  the  earth, -and  who  under  God  were  to  become 
powerful  meansof  protecting  their  country;  when  infidelity, 
like  a  ftaod,  should,  threaten  to  overwhelm  ite  barriers, 
religiou?,  social  and  political. 

Woman's  mission  included  -yet  another  particular,  one 
of  which  I  have  deferred  enumerating,  not  because  it  was 
less  important  than  the  preceding,  but  because  it  is  insepa- 
rable frofli  their  faithful  discharge.  As  far  as'circumstan- 
ces  permit,  it  is  (he  duty  of  exhibiting  a  lovely  and  consist- 
ent example,  of  the  powerful  efficacy  arising  from  which, 
the  Almighty  was  fully  sensible.  He  knew  that  impres- 
sions could  be  made  by  this  means,  on  those  whose  power 


•16  DUTIES    ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN   IN    HSU    STATION. 

of  perceiving  moral  beauty  in  any  other  form,  would  be 
apparently  destroyed,  atnl  he  commissioned  woman, 
through  its  silent  eloquence,  to  accomplish  a  work  in  his 
economy  of  grace,  which  could  be  more  effectually  secur- 
ed in  that  way  than  in  any  other.  As  in  the  case  of  Mo- 
ses,.so  in  hers,  the  glory  of  divu\e  grace  is  to  shine  forth 
in  its  beautiful  i>ruliancc  on  her  personally,  and  by  this 
means  the  Lord  is  to  manifest  his  glory  for  the  conviction 
of  the  impenitent. 

Among  the  privileges  attached  to  the  station  of  women, 
there  is  one  which,  we  doubt  not,  God  designed  to  be  in- 
strumental in  effecting  highly  beneficial  purposes,  but  in 
respect  to  the  responsibility  annexed  to  which,  there  is 
perhaps  more  obtuseness  or  insensibility  manifested,  than 
to  any  other  imposed  on  our  sex.  1  advert  to  the  place- 
assigned  them  in  all  civilised  countries,  as  directresses  of 
the  public  taste.  Their  quick  and  lively  fancy,  their  vivid 
and  delicate  perceptions  of  the  beautiful,  render  them 
more  acutely  sensitive  to  any  violation  of  the  rules  of  pro- 
priety and  congruity.  the  subjects  with  which  taste  is 
chiefly  conversant.  These  endowments,  stimulated  by  a 
more  sensitive  temperament,  and  perhaps  stronger  pro- 
pensity to  personal  'vanity,  make  their  possessors  eagerlv 
avail  themselves  of  the- prerogatives  of  office,  but  seldom 
we  fear,  do  females,  even  Christian. females,  realize  suffi- 
ciently that  they  are  solemnly  accountable  for  their  use 
or  abuse  of.  them.  This  insensibility,  so  generally  mani- 
fested on  this  subject,  may  probably  be  in  a  measure 
referable  to  the  fact,  that  in  making  a  decision  upon  mat- 
ters of  taste,  (using  the  word  in  its  proper  acceptation,)  the 
individual  thus  acting,  is  conscious  that  the  powers  of  his 
understanding  have  not  been  exercised  as  perceptibly  as 
on  many  other  occasions,  but  will  feel  rather  as  if  she  had 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   WOMAN    IN    HER    STATION.  47 

been  impelled  to  a  -decision,  by  some  peculiar  quality 
which  the  object  of  her  selection  possessed,  having  been 
the  occasion  of  exciting  pleasurable  sensations — or-  by " 
some  particular  property  of  another,  which  she  feels  com- 
pelled to  reject,  having  awakened  an  equally  instinctive 
painful,  sensation. 

For  innate  propensities  she  will  not  of  course  be  con- 
sidered answerable,  hut  for  the  use  she  makes  of  them  she 
is  accountable,  and  if  "  to  create  taste  is  to  call  forth  and 
bestow  power,"  then  in  this  respect  has  she  beea-invested 
with  no  ordinary  degree  of  it,  and  should  consider  herself 
as  under  .an  imperative  obligation  not  to  betray  the  inter- 
ests of  her  Lord,  her  fellow-creatures,  or  her  own  soul  by 
its  misuse.  Jt  i?  my  intention  subsequently  to  suggest  some 
-friendly  hints  to  my  countrywomen  on  their  duty  in  this 
respect  at  the  present  eventful  crisis. 

An  attempt  has  now,  been  made  to  condense  into  the 
form  of  an  imperfect  epitome,  those  points  of  woman's 
mission  which,  to  the  author's  mind,  appear  manifestly  to 
indicate  the  declared  intentions  of  God  toward  her.  He 
has  assigned  her  an  important  station  in  his  moral  universe; 
he  has,  I  believe,  specially  endowed  her  with  relation  to 
her  destiny;, and  he  freely  offers,  not  only  instructions  to 
direct  her,  but  strength  to  epable  her  to  conform  her 
course  of,actionto  his  requirements  and  appointments. 
But  he  compels  no  one,  irrespective  of  frer  own  free  will  as 
a  moral  agent^  to  discharge  her  appropriate  vocations. 
On  the  contrary,  we  find  many  cases  continually  presented 
to  our  notice,  and  the  records  of  past  and  present  times 
also  assure  us  of  the  existence  of  innumerable  others,  who 
have  not  chosen  to  fulfil  the  destiny  marked  out  for  them 
in  the  creation  of  God,  but  have  walked  in  a  path,  to 
which  the  perverse  inclinations  of  their  corrupt  natures 


48  DUTIES    ASSIGNED    TO    WOMAN    IN    HER     STATION. 

have  inclined  (hern,  unmindful  of  their  high  privileges, 
and  carel'rsly  disregardful  of  the  consequences  which 
must  inevitably  result  not  only  to  those  who  openly  reject 
the  overtures  of  the  Gospel  of  salvation,  hut  also  to  those 
who  4;  forget  God,''  and  do  'J  not  like  to  retain  God  in 
their  knowledge."1 

To  such,  the  view  here  drawn  of  woman's  position  in 
the  mechanism  of  Chat  system  devised  by  the  Almighty  to 
reinstate  a  d>  graded  and  corrupt  race  into  the  possession 
of  their  forfeited  privileges,  and  of  a  more  glorious  kind 
than  were  origir  ally  cijoycd  by  their  progenitors  in  their 
state  of  innoce-nre,  would  present  nothing  pleasing  or  con- 
genial to  their  inclinations,  neither  would  they  desire  or 
be  willing  to  seek  information  as  to  the  only  mode  by  which 
the  fallen  can  be  enabled  to  meet  the  wishes  of  their  God. 
Others,  however,  may  be  found  conscientiously  desirous 
to  do  the  will  of  their  Maker,  but  who  may  be  heard  giv- 
ing utterance  to  a  similar  spirit  to  that  to  which  Moses 
gave  vent  when  summoned  to  the  discharge  of  arduous 
duty:  "  Who  am  I  that  I  should  go  unto  Pharaoh,  or  that 

I  should  bring  forth  the  children  of  Israel? 1  am  not 

eloquent,  but  slow  of  speech," — or  like  Jerubbaal,  when 
commissioned  to  deliver  Israel  from  the  oppression  of  their 
Midianithh  rulers:  "Wherewith  shall  I  save  Israel?. .. . 
lam  the  least  in  my  father's  house."  The  former  class  J 
would  affectionately  remind  of  the  fact,  that  legislators, 
whether  human  or  divine,  have  never  admitted  disinclina- 
tion to  duty  as  furnishing  a  plea  for  cancelling  personal 
obligation  to  legal  requirements.  God's  purposes  towards 
the  female  sex  will  necessarily  remain  as  immutable  and 
permanent  as  any  others  formed  by  his  unchangeable 
mind,  and  can  never  be  counteracted  with  impunity. 
To  those  disposed  to  allege  weakness  and  natural  cor- 


DUTIES   ASSIGNED   TO   "WOMAN     IN    HER    STATION.  49 

ruptions  as  furnishing  grounds  for  backwardness  and  re- 
luctance in  undertaking  the  discharge  of  specific  functions, 
I  would  likewise  tenderly  address  a  word  of  admonition. 
He  who  appointed  us  to  our  station  was  perfectly  aware 
of  our  inherent  incapacity  to  fulfil  its  dutic?,  but  he  has  in 
his  treasury,  and  reserved  for  each  applicant,  ample  pro- 
vision for  every  possible  exigency.  His  promises  are  so 
immutably  conjoined  with  his  injunctions,  that  if  we  do 
not  fulfil  his  intentions  in  our  creation,  the  failure  will  be 
solely  attributable  to  us,  and  not  to  him.  "  Christ  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and  the  life," — and  his  precious  word  is 
pledged  to  his  people,  that  "  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass 
away,"  sooner  than  one  of  his  promises  shall  be  nullified. 
"  I  am  the  vine,"  &aid  Ire,  "ye  are  the  branches;  he  that 
abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit:  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing."  Fear  not,  then, 
"  certainly  I  will  be  with  thee,"  saith  our  God  to  each  of 
his. believing  daughters,  "I  will  not  fail  nor  forsake  thee, 
only  be  thou  strong  and  very  courageous,  that  thou  mayest 
observe  to  do  according  to  all  the  law"  which  God  com- 
mands thee.  The  book  of  the  holy  Scriptures"  shall  not 
depart  out  of  thy  mouth;  but  thou  shalt  meditate  therein 
day  and  night,  that  thou 'mayest  observe  to  do  according 
to  all  that  is  written  therein;  for  then  thou  shalt  make  thy 
way  prosperous,  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good  success. 
Have  not  I  commanded  thee  I  Be  strong  and  of  a  good 
courage;  be  Hot  afraid,  neither  be  thou  dismayed;  for  the 
Lord  thy  God  is  with  -thee  whithersoever  thou  goest!" 

5 


CHAPTER     III. 

WOMEN    AND   THEIR    STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

The  Hebrew  nation  stands  conspicuous  in  the  records 
of  our  race,  on  account  of  many  singular  and  interesting 
peculiarities  in  their  religion.  Their  religious  rights 
were  retained  in  greater  uniformity, — their  national  and 
individual  idiosjncracies  manifested  more  strikingly  and 
continuously, — and  their  existence  as  a  distinct  political 
body  preserved  immeasurably  longer  than  that  of  any  other 
people  whose  history  has  been  recorded.  The  mighty 
nations  who  contended  with,  and  partly  succeeded  in  sub- 
jugating them,  have  either  descended  into  the  gulf  of  obli- 
vion, or  have  been  so  far  modified  in  political  character  as 
to  present  few  points  of  resemblance  to  their  primitive 
originals;  but  from  the  days  of  Abraham  to  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  when  their  national  existence  was  externally 
suspended,  the  Jewish  people  continued  to  exhibit  the 
same  peculiarities  of  moral  and  intellectual  constitution. 

On  this  account  alone,  more  time  and  attention  will  una- 
voidably be  required  for  the  consideration  of  the  general 
tone  of  character  of  their  females,  and  the  agency  exerted 
by  them.  Moreover,  as  the  civil  polity  of  the  Hebrews 
was  peculiar,  being  fundamentally  (heoacratical,  and  or- 
ganized during  the  times  of  the  patriarchs,  judges  and 
kings,  in  such  a  manner  that  the  jurisdiction  of  Jehovah 
as  the  Supreme  Ruler  might  be  equally  recognized; — 
it  becomes  peculiarly  important  to  study  the  relation 


WOMEN    AND    THEIR   STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS.       51 

of  woman  to  her  country  as  amoral  agent;  though  her 
social  privileges  were  by  no  means  s6  great,  as  to 
permit  her  influence  to  be  exercised  in  the  free  and  uncon- 
strained manner  permitted  under  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion. 

I'shajl  therefore,  endeavor  to  examine  WOMAN  IN  HER 
STATION,  among  the  Hebrews,  more  closely  than  my  limits 
will  permit  or  than  would  be  requisite  to  my  purpose 
when  treating  of  other  ancient  nation?,  and  shall  subdivide 
my  subject  for  convenience,  under  three  general  heads: — 
I.  Woman  under  the  early  ages  of  the  Hebrew  common- 
wealth; II.  Woman  under  tbe  middle  ages  of  the  He- 
brew commonwealth;  III.  Woman  under  the  decline,  and 
to  the  suspension  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth. 

I.       WOMAN    UNDER    THE    EARLY    AGES     OF    THE    HEBREW 

.COMMONWEALTH. 

. "  *..*§'-*- 

In  investigations  in  any  .department  of  .knowledge, 
it  is  generally  considered  important  to  observe  several 
particulars.  Authentic  facts  must  be  collected;  their 
causes  traced;  and  some  general  truth  or  principle  dedu- 
ced from  them.  In  endeavoring  to  estimate  the  degree  of 
moral  agency  exerted  by  the  female  sex,  during  the  ages 
which  elapsed  from  the  creation  to.  the  deluge,  we  labor  in 
some  respects  under  great  disadvantage,  since  there  is  but 
one  volume  which  we  can  consult,  from  which  to  collect 
data  to  assist  us  in  our  attempt;  and  even  this  solitary  re- 
cord of  humanity  during  about  two  thousand  years,  con- 
tains a  narrative  of  but  few  events,  and  is  compressed 
within  an  exceedingly  brief  compass. 

While  the  number  is  small  of  recorded  facts,  those  spe- 


52       WOMEN   AND   THEIR    STATION    AMONG     THE     HEBKEWS. 

cified  are,  however,  essentially  important,  and  we  are 
spared  the  troublesome  process  of  separating  from  them 
any  incidentally  associated  with  them,  and  not  necessary 
to  ascertain  the  truth  which  we  are  desirous  of  investi- 
gating. 

Scarcely  are  we  introduced  to-  the  female  head  of  the 
human  race  in  the  sacred  narrative,  before  we  are  forcibly 
struck  with  events  noticed  in  her  history,  authenticated  by 
God  himself,  and  the  relation  of  which  to  the  destiny  of  ear 
race,  is  not  left  to  our  finite  intellect  to  determine.  Sub- 
sequently we  hear  of  the  prince  of  the  fallen  angels,  obtain- 
ing permission  from  the  Lord  to  tempt  one  of  his  most  be- 
loved and  esteemed  children,  for  the  purpose  of  humbling, 
purifying,and  subsecpaently  exalting  htm,  to.a  high  degree 
of  holiness  and  blessedness;  but  we  are  never  informed 
why  the  same  apostate  spirit  was  allowed  to  assail  Eve; 
this  is  one  of  the  secret  things  which  belong  alone  to  the 
Lord  our  God.  It  was  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  she, 
being  a  free  agent,  was  tempted  :  and  that  when  she  '•  saw 
that  the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  was  pleasant 
to  the  eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  ry/ake  one  wisc.sAe 
took  of  the  fruit  thereof  and  did  cat;  and  ga?c  also  unto  her 
husband  n'ith  her,  and  he  did  eat." 

Thus  on  the  dark  register  of  human  crime,  which  has 
been  swelling  ominously  from  age  to  age,  we  find  first  in- 
scribed a  brief  but  striking  attestation  of  woman's  sin,  and 
woman's  perversion  of  her  power  over  man.  The  cause 
of  Adam's  concurrence  with  her  in  guilt,  will  perhaps  be 
evidenced  on  a  patient  observation  of  facts  noted  in  the 
subsequent  history  of  our  race;  the  exercise  of  woman's 
moral  agency  under  Providence,  either  for  the  correction 
or  promotion  of  evil,— and  the  response  of  man's  nature  to 
such  monitions;  the  general  principle  to  be  deduced 


, 

WOMEN    AND   THEIR   STATION   AMONG    THE     HEBREWS-      53 

Christian  women  ought  never  to  be  slow  to  perceive,  or 
reluctant  to  improve  practically.  If  the  power  of  one 
mind  over  another,  be  estimated  by  the  important  conse- 
quences flowing  from  actions  to  which  it  impels,  then  might 
it  be  safely  affirmed,  that  Eve's  moral  ability  transcended 
that  of  any  of  her  descendants,  when  she  by  her  persua- 
sions influenced  him,  to  whom  she  had  been  granted  as  a 
help-meet,  to  become  a  joint  actor  with  her. in  a  tragedy, 
involving  the  destinies  of  all  succeeding  generations  of  the 
human  species.  With  what  inimitable  beauty  has  Milton 
represented  the  nature  and  extent  of  Eve's  ascendancy 
over  the  mind  of  Adam,  in  the  reply  which  he  describes 
him  as  making  to  her  iirst  communication  of  guilt,  and 
earliest  persuasive  attempt  to  induce  him  to  become  her 
follower  in  the  path  of  transgression! 

"With  thee 

Certain  my  resolution  is  to  die: 
How  can  I  live  without  theei  how  forego, 
Thy  svyeet  converse  and  love  so  dearly  join'd, 
To  live  again  in  these  wild  woods  forlorn! 
Should  God  create  another  Eve,  and  I 
Another  rib  afford,  yet  loss  of  thee 
Would  never  from  my  heart:  no,  no!  I  feel 
The  link  of  nature  draw  me:  flesh  of  my  flesh, 
Bone  of  my  bone  thou  art,  and  from  thy  state 
Mine  never  shall  be  parted,  bliss  or  woe." 

In  this  eventful  moment,  when  woman  stood  as  it  were 
in  trust  with  the  destinies,  eternal  and  temporal,  of  her  re- 
motest posterity,  she  was  empowered  by  the  Almighty  to 
exert  a  degree  of  mor?l  influence  either  for  weal  or  woe, 
which  musfc  have  invested  her  with  exceeding  interest  in 
the  sight  of  the  angelic  intelligences,  unappriscd  of  the  re- 
»ult.  She  was  a  free  agent, — a  probationer,  not  only  as 
it  regarded  her  own  destiny,  but  that  of  the  species 

5* 


64       WOMEN    AND   THEIR   STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

dependent  on  her,  whom  she  represented  as  the  federal 
bead.  Had  she  been  irresistibly  impelled  to  reject  the 
"temptation  first  presented  through  the  machinations  of  the 
prince  of  evil,  then  would  there  have  been  no  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  virtue,  orthe  advancement  of  her  moral 
nature,  which  had  been  made  inseparably  dependent  on 
the  involuntary  conquest  of  unholy  suggestion.  For  let  it 
ever  be  remembered  that  Eve's  position  was  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  ours,  when  assailed  by  temptation.  Her  will 
had  a  natural  bias  to  duty. — ours  a  native  repugnance  to  it ; 
her  understanding  was  vigorous,  harmoniously  developed, 
and  in  all  Us  power  illuminated  by  the  Spirit  of  Holiness, — 
while  ours  are  continually  liable  to  be  led  astray,  and  dis- 
posed io  pervert  and  distort  the  truth, — and  can  only  re- 
ceive the  monitions  and  effectual  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
when  regenerated  through  faith  in  the  Redeemer.  It  was 
by  exciting  desires  for  the  indulgence  of  unhallowed  cu- 
riosity, and  the  attainment  of  a  more  independent  station 
in  creation,  that  Satan  succeeded  in  overcoming  the  virtue 
of  the  mother  of  our  race;  and  made  her  instrumental  in 
bringing  so  sad  a  change  over  the  destinies  of  mankind; 
and  by  similar  suggestions  has  he  repeatedly,  in  subse- 
quent ages,  attempted,  and  successfully  attempted,  to  de- 
ceive and  involve  in  eternal  ruin  her  fallen  daughters. — 
Lest  man  under  the  irritation  engendered  by  the  conscious- 
ness of  guilt,  might  be  tempted  too  harshly  to  wreak  his 
vengeance  on  her,  who  was  the  instrumental  cause  of  it, 
the  Almighty  with  most  merciful  consideration  informed 
him,  that  woman,  the  leader  and  guide  to  sin  and  sorrow, 
was  subsequently  to  become  the  mediate  one,  by  whom  in 
his  human  nature  was  to  be  introduced  into  the  fallen 
world,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God; — the  victor  who  was  to  tri- 
umph over  sin,  and  the  great  adversary  of  mail,  and  who, 


1VOMEN   AND   THEIR    STATION   AMONG   THE    HEBREWS.      55 

by  his  sacrifice  and  righteousness,  was  to  elevate  his  re- 
deemed people  to  a  higher  degree  of  glory  and  blessedness 
than  the  first  originally  enjoyed  in  Paradise. 

Taking  a  medium  between  the  calculations  of  different 
chronologists,  we  suppose,  that  less  than  two  thousand 
years  intervened  after  the  expulsion  of  our  guilty  progeni- 
tors from  the  garden  of  Eden,  until  th<3  Almighty  made  the 
solemn  annunciation  to  Noah,  of  an  approaching  catastro- 
phe which  was  to  destroy  the  corrupt  generations  of  men, 
and  to  convulse  the  earth,  their  dwelling  place,  to  its  cen- 
tre. During  these  succeeding  centuries,  we  find  woman's 
agency  in  society  unnoticed  by  the  sacred  historian,  except 
that  a  brief  but  expressive  intimation  is  given  us,  that  it  was 
by  the  malign  and  powerful  influence  which  a  portion  of 
them  exerted  in  their  relative  stations,  that  men  were  im- 
pelled rapidly  in  the  progressive  descent  towards  that 
complete  moral  degradation  which  compelled  the  right- 
eous God  to  send  forth  the  commission  for  their  destruc- 
tion. But  even  in  that  season  of  general  and  awful  apos- 
tacy,  there  were  still  found  some  of  the  sex  faithful  to  their 
God,  since  among  the  seven  conservatives  of  our  race, 
during  the  season  of  judicial  visitation,  were  numbered 
three  females. 

Between  three  and  four  centuries  after  the  catastrophe 
of  the  deluge  rolled  by,  briefly  chronicled  by  Moses, 
in  which  no  events  are  recorded  of  special  interest,  save 
the  unsuccessful  attempt  to  build  the  Tower  of  Habel;  at 
length  Abraham,  the  father  of  the  faithful  is  introduced 
to  our  notice.  Not  for  any  intrinsic  excellence  of  his  own, 
was  the  son  of  Terah  selected  from  among  his  cotempora- 
ries,  and  thenceforward  through  a  lapse  of  years,  made  to 
standout  as  it  were  in  relief  from  the  rest  of  humanity; 
the  memorial  of  himself  and  his  posterity  given  by  the  sa- 


56       WOMEN     AND    THEIR     STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

cred  historian,  presenting  to  us  for  a  considerable  period 
the  only  authentic  record  of  the  human  race,  when  num- 
bers must  at  that  time  have  been  by  no  means  contempti- 
ble. To  prevent  the  universal  prevalence  of  idolatry, — 
to  secure  a  scion  in  the  wilderness  of  this  world  upon  which 
might  be  engrafted  the  heavenly  seed,  to  preserve  it  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  deteorating  effects  of  noxious 
thorns  and  thistles  indigenous  to  its  soil: — to  prepare  a 
lineage  to  whom  the  sacred  oracles  of  divine  truth  might 
be  committed,  and  among  whom  the  ordinances  of  spiritual 
worship  might  be  preserved  until  the  corning  of  the  Mes- 
siah,— "the  desire  of  all  nations;"  was  Abram  called  to 
go  out  into  a  place,  which  he  should  after  receive  for  an 
inheritance;  and  by  faith  "obeyed  and  went  out,  not 
knowing  whither  l:e  went. 

The  family  of  Noah  had  retained  a  knowledge  of  the 
the  simple  principles  upon  which  civil  society  is  based,  and 
of  the  arts  necessary  in  those  primitive  times.  The  pre- 
vailing form  of  government  appears  to  have  been  patri- 
archal, and  their  habits  nomadic.  Abraham  in  all  his 
journeyings  was  attended  by  his  flocks  and  herds,  in  which 
his  wealth  almost  exclusively  consisted ;  for  in  the  inven- 
tory of  his  personal  property,  his  cattle  are  always  enume- 
rated most  prominently.  But  wherever  the  father  of  the 
faithful  might  pitch  his  tent,  there  did  his  beloved  and 
beautiful  Sarah  accompany  him.  Her  relative  post  de- 
monstrated indeed  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  her  whose 
transgressions  had  been  the  cause  of  consigning  her  female 
posterity  to  a  submissive  position,  but  the  faith  and  holy 
love  which  glowed  in  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  made  him 
recognize  those  moral  and  intellectual  charms  of  "  Sarah, 
his  wife,"  whose  direct  and  indirect  influence  over  him 
was  strikingly  developed  in  the  progress  of  their  history, 


AND   THEIE.   STATION    AMONG   THE     HEBREWS.      57 

and  led  to  results  momentous  in  their  bearing  on  the  des- 
tiny of  Abraham,  and  on  that  of  the  nations  descended 
from  him. 

The  passion  which  the  beautiful  Sarah  inspired  in  her 
husband's  breast,  was  of  so  ardent  a  nature,  that  under 
the  consciousness  of  the  powerful  stimulus  which  it  exerted 
over  his  own  actions,  he  learned  constantly  to  anticipate  a 
similar  result  upon  other  minds  exposed  to  the  same  at- 
traction ;  and  he  who  could  forsake  the  ties  of  kindred  and 
the  land  of  his  nativity  at  the  command  of  God,  became  so 
far  enslaved  undcc  the  dominion  of  earthly  affection,  by 
"that  fear  of  man  which  bringcth  a  snare,"  that  he  was 
betrayed  into  duplicity  and  evasion,  dishonorable  to  his 
God,  unworthy  of  his  own  character,  and  injurious  to 
others.  For  her  sake,  the  Egyptian  monarch,  and,  in  sub- 
sequent years,  the  king  of  Gcrar  likewise,  loaded  Abraham 
with  favors,  and  accumulated  wealth  upon  him.  These 
princely  boons,  it  must  be  remembered,  were  tendered  as 
voluntary  acts  of  homage  to  her  charms,  and  tributes  to 
her  purity,  and  were  not  the  degrading  rewards  of  forfeit- 
ed virtue,  or  compensating  offerings  for  an  injury  which 
wealth  is  wholly  insufficient  to  alleviate,  much  less  to 
,  atone. 

It  was  by  the  instigation  of  Sarah,  whose  powers  of  cap- 
tivatlon  the  patriarch  and  the  monarch  had  alike  demon- 
strated, that  the  father  of  the  faithful  Avas  Induced  to  select 
a  second  and  inferior  wife  in  the  person  of  a  menial  Egyp- 
tian. As  the  mother  of  Ishmael,  Hag%i'  became  the  head 
of  a  great  nation, — identified  in  i ts,  history  with  much  that 
iS  interestkvg,  in'  the  religious,  historical  and  scientific  re- 
cords of  our  race.*  The  princess  of  her  people  by  her 

*  Herodotus  informs  us  that  we  are  indebted  to  the  Arabians  for  the 
invention  of  Algebra,  and  also  for  the  numerical  characters, ' 


/>8       WOMEN    AND   THEIR     STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

ascendant  power,  subsequently  impelled  her  lord  to 
"  cast  out  the  bondwoman  and  her  son,"  although  Ishmael 
was  endeared  to  him  as  his  first  born  son,  and  the  awakencr 
of  the  parental  sympathies  in  his  affectionate  bosom. 
Many  imagine  that  Sarah  was  actuated  solely  by  feelings 
of  personal  pique  and  severity  in  requesting  the  expulsion 
of  her  Egyptian  bondwoman  and  her  son, — but  if  Ishmael's 
contemptuous  behaviour  was  an  ebullition  of  youthful  in- 
fidelity, and  hostility  towards  his  brother,  as  the  child  of 
promise,  as  is  thought  by  some  learned  and  pious  men,  and 
the  opinion  is  tacitlv  sanctioned  by  St.  Paul  in  his  epistle 
to  the  Galatians, — (hen  may  she  not  have  been  to  some 
degree  influenced  by  a  regard  to  the  divine  honor,  and 
not  impelled  by  a  jealous  concern  for  (he  preservation  of 
her  own  dignity  and  that  of  her  beloved  Isaac.  Undoubt- 
edly she  acted  as  God's  moral  agent,  in  effecting  an  im- 
portant purpose  of  the  divine  mind., — the  separation  of  his 
chosen  people,  in  the  person  of  Isaac  their  representative, 
from  the  idolatrous  influence  of  the  surrounding  heathen 
nations,  and  the  securing  of  the  promise  to  them  especially. 
Sarah  was  certainly  the  medium  on  this  occasion  of  lead- 
ing the  temporal  head  of  the  Church  of  God,  to  pursue 
the  path  marked  out  by  Divine  Wisdom  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  purposes,  on  which,  as  far  as  we  can  ascer- 
tain, were  dependent  the  future  destinies  of  the  whole  body 
of  believers; — this  one  act  being  connected  by  a  chain 
of  important  consequences,  with  the  present  condition  of 
the  church  militant  and  triumphant; 

The  circumstances  connected  with  the  death  of  Sarah, 
arc  deserving  of  particular  attention,  not  only  as  demon- 
strating the  deep ••  affection  and  veneration  with  which 
Abraham  regarded  the 'object  of  his  long  and  unabated 
attachment,  but  likewise  as  indicating  the  moral  and  intel- 


\VOMEN    AND   THEIR    STATI®N    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS.      59 

lectual  power  which  this  female  character,  in  its  appoint- 
ed station,  possessed,  over  the  people  who  were  her  co- 
temporaries. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  by  mankind  generally,  but 
more  especially  among  ancient  nations  and  oriental  people,  , 
the  funeral  solemnities  for  the  deceased  are  considered  as 
the  criteria  on  which  the  relative  position  of  the  departed 
may  be  pretty  accurately  predicted.  We  find  this  attest- 
ed in  a  striking  manner  by  Homer,  and  other  classic 
writers;  extraordinary  mourning,  then  implied  something 
remarkable  in  the  rank  or  virtue  of  (he  individual  lament- 
ed; since  under  ordinary  cases  of  domestic  afflictions  the 
expressions  of  grief  were  moderate  and  unmarked  by  any 
striking  external  observances. 

Sarah's  death  was,  however,  deplored  by  her  husband 
as  a  severe  calamity,  and  there  is  exceeding  pathos  in  the 
brief  description  which  Moses  gives  of  his  bereavement, 
and  the  sorrows  which  it  occasioned;  neither  did  his  emo- 
tion appear  to  be  unwarrantable  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation 
among  whom  he  sojourned  as  "a  mighty  prince."  With 
respectful  and  affectionate  sympathy  they  immediately 
entered  into  his  sorrows,  and  tendered  their  acknowledg- 
ments of  regard  to  him  and  to  his  departed  one; — "  Hear 
us,  my  lord,"  said  they  to  him,  "in  the  choice  of  our  se- 
pulchres bury  thy  dead;  none  of  us  shall  withhold  from 
thee  his  sepulchre,  but  that  thou  mayest  bury  thy  dead." 
Nay,  they  besought  him  to  take  as  a  free  will  offering  of 
kindness  and  respect,  the  spot  which  he  had  selected  as 
the  most  pleasing  location  for  the  last  dwelling  place  olMI 
her  who  had  been  so  dear  in  life. 

Homer  describes  Achilles  as  finding  his  only  solace 
under  the  loss  of  his  beloved  Patroclus,  in  seeing  "  the 
warrior's  funeral  pile  prepared,"  by  the  combined  armies 


60      WOMEN   AND   THEIR.    STATION   AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

of  Greece,  who  "  bade  hecatombs  to  burn,"  and  "  forests 
fall,"  in  commemoration  of  the  slumbering  hero.  But  the 
moral  virtues  of  woman  in  her  appointed  station  received 
a  more  marked  and  enduring  tribute  of  respect,  when  the 
representatives  of  a  stranger  nation  rose  up  to  offer  sym- 
pathetic-condolence with  her  mourning  k>rd;  and  signali- 
zed her  interment  by  furnishing  in  the  title  deed  to  her 
place  of  sepulchre,  the  "earliest  instance  on  record  of  the 
regular  conveyance  of  landed  property,  the  field  and  the 
cave  that  was  therein,  and  all  the  trees  that  were  in  tire 
field,  and  that  were  in  all  the  borders  round  about."' 

Sarah  may  be  considered  as  giving  us  a  striking  repre- 
sentation of  the  character,  conduct  and  influence  of  woman, 
in  the  exercise  of  some  of  the  specific  functions  among  the 
ancient  people  of  God.  In  the  wife  of  the  beloved  Isaac 
we  may  behold  different  manifestations  of  the  same  power. 
Saralrs  ascendancy  was  principally  exhibited  over  her 
husband,  while  Rebecca's  was  exerted  chiefly  through  the 
maternal  relation.  She,  however,  also,  like  her  mother- 
in-law,  became  instrumental  in  furthering  the  temporal 
interests  of  her  lord,  when,  in  conformity  to  his  fathers 
example,  he  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Abimilcch,  one  of  the 
Philistian  kings.  Once  more  we  behold  woman's  nature 
made  the  channel  for  communicating  the  far-reaching  in- 
tentions of  the  Divine  Minjd;  to  Rebecca,  and  not  to  her 
luuband,  "  the  heirs  of  promise,"  was  information  given  of 
the  eventful  history  of  the  two  great  nations,  who  were  to 
descend  from  them.  She  appears  confidently  and  belicv- 
*fngly  to  have  expected  the  fulfilment  of  the  predictions 
made  to  her,  and  probably  on  that  account  learned  to  re- 
gard Jacob  with  especial  affection,  as  the  divinely  pre- 
dicted ancestor  of  the  promised  deliverer  of  Israel,  though 
she  dishonored  the  power  and  faithfulness  of  her  God,  by 


WOMEN    AND    THEIR    STATION    AMONG   THE    HEBREWS.      61 

distrusting  him  so  far-as  to  suppose  he  needed  means  and 
opportunities  which  she  might -employ,  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  purposes.  She  confided  unhesitatingly  in  the 
assurance  of  her  Maker,  but  her  faith  was  not  in  such 
lively  exercise,  as  permitted  her,  like  the  father  of  the 
faithful,  "  to  hope  against  hope," — she  wanted  something 
tangible  on  which  to  rest,  and  blindly  and  presumptuously 
stretched  forth  her  feeble  hand  to  give  what  she  consider- 
ed a  necessary  impetus  to  the  whee's  of  Providence,  in- 
stead of  lifting,  up  her  voice  in  importunate  supplication 
to  the  mighty  God,  and,  like  the  Psalmist,  resting  her  ex- 
pectation on  him  alone.  She  appears  to  have  erred  less  in 
this  matter  than  did  her  husband;  she  from  her  confident 
assurance,  that  the  Almighty  would  fulfil  his  promise, 
ventured  to  assume  the  responsibility  of  rashly  persuading 
the  subject  of  it  to  employ  unwarrantable  means  in  attain- 
ing it;  while  Isaac,  blinded  by  parental  partiality  towards 
an  unworthy  child,  was  tempted  to  forget  and  misinterpret 
the  predictions,  though  we  can  not  suppose  him  to  be  ca-> 
pable  of  wilfully  desiring  to  counteract  the  purposes  of  the 
Lord.  The  suggestions  of  mistaken  affection  betrayed 
Rebecca  into  a  _perversion  of  maternal  affection,  to  the 
power  of  which  as  a  principle  of  action  among  the  He- 
brews, Jacob  testified,  when  in  the  pride  of  manhood  he 
instinctively  yielded  to  the  decision  of  his  mother's  mind, 
By  the  indulgence  of  undue  anxiety  as  to  future  contin- 
gencies, she  impelled  her  sons  to  the  palpable  sins  of  filial 
deception,  fraternal  unkindness,  and  direct  falsehood,  thus 
entailing  on  him  remorse  of  conscience,  and  severe  and  pro- 
tracted retributive  sufferings;  besides  ensuring  to  herself 
years  of  future  sorrow,  and  augmenting,  if  not  engendering, 
antipathies  between  her  sons,  which  were  perpetuated  by 
their  posterity ;  the  Edomite  and  Jewish  nations  to  the  latest 

6 


62       WOMEN   AND   THEIR   STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

period  of  their  histories,  continuing  to  cherish  mutual  ani- 
mosity, though  their  respective  progenitors  were  once  the 
infant  occupants  of  the  same  couch,  and  received  their 
earliest  nourishment  from  the  same  bosom. 

The  land  of  Judea  was  anciently  divided  into  districts 
of  pasturage,  agriculture  and  commerce,  and,  as  is  usual 
to  other  nations,  these  different  pursuits,  as  well  as  the 
progress  of  civilization,  tended  to  give  a  somewhat  differ- 
ent aspect  to  the  female  character.  In  Sarah  and  Rebec- 
ca, we  have  seen  examples  of  the  influence  exerted  by 
women  in  pastoral  life,  where  the  highest  ranks  among 
them,  as  under  the  same  circumstances  in  heathen  nations 
of  antiquity,  disdained  not  to  tend  their  flocks  and  draw 
water  from  the  fountains  to  relieve  their  thirsting  flocks, 
and  the  parched  lips  of  the  weary  traveller.* 

The  sacred  historians  exhibit  female  character  under 
the  various  phases  which  it  might  naturally  be  expected 
to  assume  in  the  different  circumstances  which  marked 
the  eventful  history  of  the  Hebrews.  In  each  and  all  we 
find  the  moral  agency  of  woman  infinitely  transcending 
both  in  kind  and  degree,  that  which  was  exerted  by  the 
sex  among  the  most  intellectual  heathen  races  of  antiquity. 

Let  us  now  glance  at  the  Hebrews,  when  dwelling  as 
a  mightily  oppressed  and  enslaved  people  in  Egypt.  Such 
a  condition  is  generajly  conceded  to  be  exceedingly  ad- 
verse to  the  development  of  intellectuality  and  elevation 
of  character.  How,  then,  did  woman, — the  subjected  one 
among  those  whose  lives  were  made  by  their  harsh  task 
masters  "  bitter  with  harsh  bondage" — how  did  she,  whose 
desire  was  to  be  with  her  husband,  whatever  his  condition 
might  be, — appear  in  this  awful  crisis  of  her  nation's  his- 

*  Odyssey.     Book  VII  and  XX. 


WOMEN   AND   THEIR    STATION   AMONtf   THE   HEBREWS.       63 

tory  ?  Undoubtedly  the  Israelitish  nation,  during  the 
long  season  of  their  sojourn  in  a  country,  pre-eminent  at 
that  period  for  its  knowledge  in  science  and  the  arts,  had 
greatly  improved  in  their  condition,  previous  to  the  jeal- 
ousy excited  against  them,  and  women  participated  in  the 
benefit,  so  that  they  became  considerably  distinguished 
among  the  Egyptians  for  their  intelligence,  application 
to  business,  domestic  economy,  accomplishment  and  skill 
in  the  arj:s,  considered  appropriate  to  their  sex. 

It  was  not,  however,  by  the  exertion  of  unassisted  intel- 
lectual power,  that  the  daughters  of  God's  chosen  people, 
were  to  be  instrumental  in  performing  the  important  part 
which  had  been  assigned  to  them,  in  the  release  of  their 
nation  from  its  rigorous  bondage.  The  sorrows  abun- 
dantly multiplied  unto  them,  had,  by  the  blessing  of  God, 
served  as  a  most  efficacious  spiritual  discipline.  The 
minds  of  some  of  their  number  strengthened  by  a  belief  in 
God's  protecting  care,*  dared  to  brave  the  wrath  of  a 
tyrannical  king  and  the  jealousy  of  his  subjects,  refused  to 
be  instrumental  in  the  destruction  of  the  male  infants  of 
their  race.  While  the  heart  of  one  among  the  oppressed 
and  sorrowing  mothers  of  Israel,  was  nerved  to  other  deeds 
of  love,  as  she  watched  with  trembling  anxiety  the  ex- 
ceeding loveliness  of  her  babe, — either  warned  by  divine 
counsel  specially  communicated  to  her,  or  else  impelled 
by  the  holy  energy  of  maternal  piety  in  lively  exercise,  in 
faith  committed  her  beloved  and  beautiful  Moses,  in  the 
extremity  of  his  helplessness,  to  the  cold  waters  of  the 
Nile; — and  while  placing  him  in  an  ark,  solitary  and  un- 
protected by  human  arms,  from  the  watery  element,  pro- 

*  Dr.  Lightfoot,  in  his  sermon  on  2.  Sam.  xix :  29,  expresses  the 
opinion,  that  Puah  and  Shiprah,  in  saving  the  male  children  of  the  Is- 
raelites, were  actuated  by  faith  and  piety,  and  did  not  attempt  a  lie. 


64       WOMEN   AND   THEIR   STATION   AMONG    THE    HEBREWS, 

bably  strengthened  her  soul  by  communing  wkh  the  God 
of  her  fathers,  who  had  preserved  the  human  race  in  the 
consecrated  hiding  place  from  the  devouring  \\aters  of  the 
flood.  Moses,  the  chosen  deliverer  of  Israel,  selected  and 
commissioned  of  the  Almighty,  was  yet  farther  indebted 
to  woman's  moral  agency.  In  faith  she  had  rescued  him 
from  a  murderous  death,  at  his  entrance  upon  his  eventful 
career  of  existence; — in  laith  she  had  nourished  him  dur- 
ing three  months  of  peril,  and  then  in  the  exercise  of  be- 
lieving confidence,  and  hopeful  expectation,  had  consigned 
him  to  a  eatery  couch; — he  was  yet  to  be  watched  over 
at  a  distance  by  a  sister's  vigilant  tenderness,  plucked  from 
the  flood  by  female  hands,  and  nurtured  by  the  princely 
daughter  of  Pharaoh,  who  unlike  her  sanguinary  father 
and  countrymen  generally,  could  be  moved  by  the  softer 
feelings  of  humanity;  to  show  pity  to  "  one  of  the  Hebrew 
children,"  when  the  helpless  babe  appealed  to  her  sympa- 
thy. The  tender  love  of  his  sister,  quickened  by  intellec- 
tual acuteness,  was  the  appointed  means  under  Providence, 
of  restoring  Moses  to  the  parental  roof,  and  probably  to 
her  pious  instructions  as  well  as  to  those  of  his  believing 
mother,  was  he  indebted  for  his  early  religion?  instruction, 
while  by  the  munificent  bounty  and  affection  of  Thermu- 
this,  his  adopted  and  princely  parent,  was  he  initiated  into 
the  learning  of  the  Egyptians,  which,  in  his  subsequent 
position,  as  lawgiver  of  the  Jewish  nation,  became  so  im- 
portant to  him. 

The  agency  exerted  by  the  Hebrew  females  over  the 
destiny  of  Moses,  was  exceedingly  influential  in  promoting 
the  Exodus  of  their  people;  but  it  appears  from  compari- 
son of  parallel  passages  of  Scripture,  not  to  have  been  re- 
stricted to  this  indirect  mode  of  exercise.  Miriam,  the 
affectionate  guardian  of  her  infant  brother,  was  also  hon- 


WOMEN   AND   THEIR  STATION   AMONO   THE    HEBREWS.       65 

ored  as  a  prophetess  in  Israel,  and  is  supposed  by  many 
divines  to  have  been  especially  commissioned  to  deliver 
the  messages  of  God  to  the  Israelitish  females,  while  her 
brother  directed  his  efforts  principally  to  the  men  of  the 
nation.      Moses  describes  her,  as  seizing  her  timbrel,  and 
in  her  prophetic  character  calling  out  in  this  stirring  lan- 
guage to  the  host  of  her  female  companions:  "  Sing  to  the 
Lord,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously;  the  horse  and  the 
rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea."     Seven  hundred  years 
subsequent  to  her  death,  we  find  the  Lord,  by  the  prophet 
Micah,  adducing  her  name  conjointly  with  her  two  bro- 
thers, as  the  deliveress  of  his  people:  "  I  sent  before  thee 
Mose?,  Aaron  and  Miriam."     While  reverencing  her  piety 
and.zeal  in  the  cause  of  God, — she  teaches  us  the  dangers 
which  may  accrue  personally  to  a  pious  female,  or  to  her 
friends  and  country,  when  departing  from  her  station,  she 
presumes  to  intermeddle  with  concerns  over  which  she  has 
no  lawful  cognizance.     Presuming  on  her  privileges  as  an 
honored  instrument  of  prophetic  ministrations,  she  rashly 
undertook  to  animadvert  on  the  conduct  of  the  Jewish 
lawgiver,  and  instigated  Aaron,  her  inferior  not  only  in  age, 
but  apparently  in  intellect,  to  join  with  her  in  a  public 
recrimination  of  Moses; — she  received  condemnation,  and 
a  temporary  but  fearful  chastisement  from  the  Lord,  the 
spectacle  of  which  appears  to  have  awakened  deep  emo- 
tion in  the  breasts  of  both  of  her  attached  brothers.     While 
Miriam,  the  prophetess  and  the  intellectual  representative 
of  her  Hebrew  sisters,  was  excluded  by  the  command  of 
God,  from  the  camp  of  Israelseven  days  as  a  sinner  and  a 
leper, — the  whole  nation  "journeyed  not," — the  sins  of 
one  female  affected  the  movements  of  a  people, — typical 
it  must  be  remembered,  of  the  church  of  God, — when  peni- 

6* 


66      WOMEN*   AND   THEIR   STATION   AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

lent  and  forgiven  she  relumed;  the  Israelites  ^'removed 
from  Hazeroth  and  pitched  in  the  wilderness  of  Paran." 

During  the  sojourn  of  the  people  of  God  in  the  wilder- 
ness, many  circumstances  tianspircd  which  testified  thnt 
with  the  increased  moral  light  diffused  around  them,  wo- 
man's position  was  becoming  of  increasing  importance.  It 
is  a  truth,  acknowledged  by  men  of  the  most  refined  and 
unprejudiced  minds,  that  the  female  sex  never  prove  their 
real  worth,  as  help-meets  and  companions,  until  the  dark 
hours  of  adversity  arrive,  when,  sustained  by  divine  as- 
sistance, and  nerved  by  the  strong  sensibilities  of  their  na- 
ture, they  become  emphatically  the  stay  and  supports  of 
the  naturally  stronger  intellect  of  men.  It  may  have  been 
then,  during  the  bitterness  and  dejection  incident  to  their 
bondage  in  Egypt,  or  during  the  toil?,  privations,  and  suf- 
ferings attendant  on  the  sojourn  of  forty  years  in  the  wil- 
derness, that  the  women  of  the  Hebrews,  like  Jochabed  and 
Miriam,  were  stimulated  to  a  course  of  devoted  affection, 
which  elevated  them  in  the  esteem  of  their  countrymen. 
For  we  find  Moses  at  the  close  of  his  legislative  career, 
promulgating  legal  enactments,  in  which  women  were  es- 
pecially interested.  The  degree  of  courtesy  manifested 
by  Moses  towards  the  orphan  daughter?  of  Zelophehad,- — 
and  his  readiness  to  bring  the  claims  of  young  females  be- 
fore the  Lord, — and  to  adjudicate  in  their  favor  when  the 
divine  pleasure  is  known,  presents  a  striking  contrast  to 
the  rudeness  as  well  as  injustice  with  which  female  peti- 
tioners for  justice  were  used  in  the  far  later  and  more  in- 
tellectual eras  of  Grecian  and  Roman  history.  The 
Athenian  laws  prohibited  females  from  appearing  in  court 
without  a  guardian,  and  would  not  allow  them  to  dispose 
of  property,  without  their  consent.  Among  the  Romans 
they  labored  under  similar  legal  disabilities,  and  even 


WOMEN   AND   THEIR   STATION   AMONG   THE    HEBREWS.       67 

greater,  because  they  were  not  allowed  to  inherit  pro- 
perty, and  to  prevent  the  elusion  of  the  law  on  the  part  of 
wealthy  and  affectionate  fathers,  the  Voconian  law  was 
passed,  which  prohibited  any  woman  from  inheriting  an 
estate,  even  if  she  were  the  only  and  beloved  child  of  a 
rich  parent. 

From  the  death  of  Joshua  to  Samuel's  introduction  in 
sacred  history,  a  period  of  four  centuries  and  a  half  elapsed, 
and  during  that  time  the  situation  of  the  Hebrew  nation 
was  constantly  varying.  Apostacies  and  multiplied  idola- 
tries were  followed  by  severe  retributive  judgment;  these 
were  made  the  occasion  of  introducing  seasons  of  repent- 
ance, followed  in  their  turn  by  providential  deliverances. 
So  that  to  a  superficial  reader  of  the  book  of  Judges,  the 
ages  which  it  chronicles  seem  among  the  darkest  of  Jewish 
history,  although  the  aspect  in  which  human  nature  is  pre- 
sented, is  only  in  character  with  the  description  given  of 
it  in  Scripture,  when  left  to  the  unrestrained  control  of  \(s 
evil  propensities.  The  book  of  Judges  may  become  very 
useful  to  us,  if  we  look  at  it  as  at  a  mirror,  in  which  na- 
tional character  and  interests  are  reflected,  both  as  they 
manifest  themselves  under  the  dominion  of  religious  princi- 
ples, and  when  idolatry  has  become  the  dominant  power. 

"  The  Israelites,"  says  the  great  historian  of  their  nation,* 
speaking  of  the  times  just  referred  to,  "taking  no  warning 
by  their  former  misfortunes  to  amend  their  manners,  and 
neither  worshipping  God  nor  submitting  to  the  laws,  were 
brought  unto  slavery  by  Jabin,  the  king  of  the  Canaanites, 
and  that  before  they  had  more  than  a  short  breathing  time 
after  the  slavery  under  the  Moabites;  for  this  Jabin  came 
out  of  Hazor,  a  city  that  was  situate  over  the  lake  Seme- 


•  Winston's  Josephus.     Book  V.  Chap.  V. 


68   WOMEN  AN0  THEIR  STATION  AMONG  THE  HEBREWS. 

choniti?,  and  had  in  pay  300,000  footmen,  and  10,000 
horseman,  with  no  fewer  than  3000  chariots.  Si-era  was 
the  commander  of  all  his  army,  and  the  principal  person 
in  the  king's  favor.  He  so  sorely  beat  the  Israelites  when 
they  fought  with  him,  that  he  ordered  them  to  pay  tribute. 
So  they  continued  to  undergo  that  hardship  tor  twenty 
years,  as  not  good  enough  of  themselves  to  grow  wise  by 
their  misfortunes.  God  was  willing  also  hereby  the  more 
to  subdue  their  obstinacy  and  ingratitude  towards  himself." 
Truly,  we  exclaim,  here  is  sketched  a  melancholy  pic- 
ture! To  what  earthly  protestor  might  we  naturally  sup- 
p©se  the  fearful  glances  of  the  Hebrews  would  !>e  instinc- 
tively directed?  Is  it  to  the  monarchs  of  Eg\  [it,  or  of  As- 
syria that  they  think  of  making  application?  JNo!  It  was 
to  woman  their  appeal  was  made!  Not  intellectual,  un- 
aided woman,  but  to  the  faithful  servant  of  the  Most  High 
God!  "  The  children  of  Israel  cried  unto  the  Lord:  and 
Deborah,  a  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Lnpidoth,  she  judged 
Israel  at  that  time.  And  she  dwelt  under  the  palm  tree 
of  Deborah,  between  Ramah  and  Bethel,  in  Mount 
Ephraim;  and  the  children  of  Israel  came  up  to  her  for 
judgment.  And  she  sent  and  called  Barak,  the  son  of 
Abinoamous,  of  Kedeshnapthali,"  etc. — The  office  of  judge 
at  that  period  of  the  Jewish  history,  was  the  highest  ex- 
ecutive office  in  the  nation,  and  the  holder  of  it  was  su- 
preme arbiter  in  civil  controversies,  and  chief  administra- 
tor in  public  services, — when  of  the  stronger  sex,  he  was 
also  sometimes  a  military  leader,  but  this  was  but  an 
accident  of  office,  not  a  necessary  prerogative;  neither  Eli 
nor  Samuel  were  military  men;  their  authority  was  limited 
to  law  only ;  and  in  doubtful  cases  they  had  recourse  to  the 
Urim  and  Thummim;  no  necessity  was  imposed  on  them 
of  appealing  to  the  judgment  of  others;  they  were  not 


WOMEN    AND    THEIR   STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS.        89 

empowered  to  levy  ta*es,  enact  laws,  or  appoint  any  offi- 
cers but  such  as  were  military,  yet  could  they  convene 
assemblies,  and  preside  in  their  decisions,  and  issn.e  orders 
to  the  nation  at  large.  The  office  was  held  during  life, 
but  was  not  hereditary.  No  emoluments  of  office  were 
received  by  the  judges,  who  were  simple  and  unostenta- 
tious in  their  habits,  and  nobly  patriotic  in  their  devotion 
to  their  country's  good.*  The  duties  assigned  to  this  su- 
preme officer  of  stale,  necessarily  required  vigorous  and 
acute  intellect,  combined  with  sound  judgment,  to  ensure 
the  faithful  discharge  of  the  responsible  trust;  but  they 
professed  to  consider  themselves  as  cfficeit  of  God,  deriv- 
ing their  ability  from  him,  and  their  most  anxious  desire 
appears  to  have  been,  that  the  authority  of  their  Supreme 
Ruler  should  be  recognized,  and  submission  to  his  will 
secured. 

fn  the  elevation  of  Deborah  to  the  highest  executive 
office  in  the  power  of  her  country  to  bestow,  we  read  a 
striking  demonstration  of  the  esteem  in  which  her  intellect, 
but  more,  especially  her  extraordinary  piety,  was  held. — 
Instinctively  did  the  Hebrews,  in  that  awful  season  of  na- 
tional calamity,  admit  the  power  which  God  had  designed 
believing  woman  to  exert  over  the  destiny  of  her  country, 
for  it  was  not  a  temporary  ebullition  of  party  feeling  which 
placed  the  wife  of  Lapidoth  at  the  helm  of  her  country  at 
that  eventful  crisis, — it  is  not  said  that  a  few  enthusiasts 
looked  to  her  for  supernatural  assistance,  but  "  the  chil- 
dren of  Israel  came  up  to  her  for  judgment,'* — implying 
the  public  concurrence  in  her  favor; — and  either  under 
her  benign  administration,  or  as  its  result, — it  being  con- 

*  Jahn's   History  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth.     Chapter  III.— 
Section  XXII. 


70       WOMEN    AND   THEIR.     STATION    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS. 

ducted  in  dependence  on  the  presence  and  protection  of 
Him  whom  she  loved  to  magnify  as  her  help. — "  the  land 
had  rest  forty  years."' 

She  justified  the  opinion  formed  of  her  character,  and 
acted  with  that  prompt  decision  which  marks  a  strong  and 
well  balanced  mind.  Though  fully  capable  by  her  intellec- 
tual superiority  to  direct  the  military  movements  of  the 
people,  she  knew  too  well  woman's  station  to  place  her- 
self at  the  head  of  the  Hebrew  army;  she  summoned  Ba- 
rah,  the  chief  captain  of  her  people,  to  her  presence,  and 
commanded  him  to  take  his  post  at  the  head  of  his  country 
and  forces,  with  a  decisive  and  authoritative  manner  that 
would  starlle  UP,  had  she  not  sustained  all  her  orders  by 
the  unanswerable  assertion:  "Hath  not  the  Lord  God 
commanded  ?"  she  reproved  the  pusillanimity  of  Barah, 
who  seemed  to  cling  tenaciously  to  her  with  the  feeliwg 
of  instinctive  dependence,  which  a  feeble  mind  is  apt  to 
assume  towards  one  of  superior  order,  especially  when  it 
is  seen  to  be  illuminated  and  ennobled  by  the  divine  pre- 
sence; he  shrunk  from  undertaking  the  responsible  and 
hazardous  trustcommitted  to  him,  unless  under  the  proviso, 
that  she  would  accompany  and  sustain  him. 

We  behold  Deborah  the  presiding  spirit  in  the  warlike 
host:  she  urges  on  Barah  to  accomplish  the  work  assigned 
him:  but  it  is  not  her  foes  or  her  country's  she  contem- 
plates in  the  assembled  hosts  of  Siscra;  they  were  the 
enemies  of  her  God;  and  as  such,  she  knew  they  should 
inevitably  perish.  But  when  the  victory  was  gained,  De- 
borah commenced  a  song  of  praise,  in  hopes  more  deeply 
to  affect  her  countrymen  with  feelings  of  love  and  grati- 
tude to  "the  avenger  of  Israel;" — she  scrupulously  re- 
minded her  people  that  their  obligations  were  due,  not  to 
her  wisdom  or  power;  to  the  Lord  alone  she  desired  to 


WOMEN    AND    THEIR.     STATI0N    AMONG    THE    HEBREWS.       71 

ascribe  the  glory. — "  Lord,"  she  exclaimed,  "  when  thou 
wentest  out  of  Seir  the  earth  trembled,  the  heavens  drop- 
ped, the  clouds  also  dropped  water!''  In  this  poetic  effu- 
sion, the  first  embodying  on  record  of  sanctified  female  in- 
telligence, Deborah  raised  a  memorial  to  the  spiritual 
agency  of  woman,  which  as  far  transcends  in  real  glory  as 
it  has  done  in  permanency,  the  vaunted  labors  of  Semira- 
mis  or  Nitovus.  It  has  been  permitted  a  place  in  the 
oracles  of  divine  truth,  and  the  aspirations  of  her  once 
ardent  soul,  have  become  a  part  of  the  sacred  treasure, 
on  which  the  children  of  God,  of  both  sexes,  and  of  every 
rank,  and  in  all  climes,  have  feasted  through  countless 
generations.  How  many  minds  have  been  acted  on  by  it 

J  J 

under  God's  blessing! — to  the  discharge  of  how  many  holy 
deeds  has  it  stimulated,  the  great  searcher  of  hearts  alone 
can  tell! 

In  the  progress  of  the  sacred  history,  the  importance  of 
an  elevated  tone  of  female  piety  as  a  conservative  princi- 
ple, both  in  respect  to  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests 
of  a  nation,  is  rendered  more  and  more  apparent.  The 
Hebrews,  about  an  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  De- 
borah, had,  by  their  sins,  again  provoked  the  displeasure 
of  God,  and  were  sorely  chastened,  in  being  subjected  to 
the  cruel  yoke  of  the  Philistian  nation  during  forty  years. 
In  this  season  of  affliction,  "  a  man  of  God"  whose  counte- 
nance was  like  the  countenance  of"  an  angel  of  God,  very 
troubled,"  was  despatched  with  communications  of  prom- 
ised deliverance  to  the  oppressed  and  afflicted.  To  be- 
lieving woman,  in  her  station  of  retirement  and  devotional 
seclusion,  was  he  twice  sent  to  unfold  his  joyful  tiding?, 
and  to  man  it  was  only  granted  to  share  her  privilege, 
when  he  had  made  the  matter  a  subject  of  prayerful  peti- 
tion. Manoah,  the  husband  of  the  favored  individual, 


72        WOBIEN    AND    THEIR    STATION    AMONG    THE     HEBREWS. 

proved  himself  too  weak  in  faith  (o  sustain  the  vision  of  the 
angelic  messenger,  and  in  his  dismay,  exclaimed,  "We 
shall  surety  die,  because  we  have  seen  God."  His  wife, 
who  appears  to  have  been  intellectually  and  spiritually 
more  advanced  in  the  habits  of  her  soul,  checked  his  dis- 
trustful expressions  by  the  stronger  faith  and  more  confi- 
dent assurance  of  the  merciful  disposition  of  the  Almighty, 
which  she  evinced.  "If  the  Lord  were  pleased,"  she 
replied,  "  to  kill  us,  he  would  not  have  received  a  burnt 
offering  and  a  meat  offering  at  our  hands;  neither  would 
he  have  shewed  us  all  these  things;  nor  would  he.  as  at 
this  time,  have  told  us  such  things  as  these."  How  beau- 
tifully does  divine  grace  exhibit  its  wondrous  power,  when 
it  is  infused  into  the  heart  of  woman,  in  such  measure, that 
her  feelings  of  natural  timidity  and  weakness  being  nerved 
by  its  consciousness  of  superinduced  divine  strength,  she  is 
enabled  with  Christian  courage,  to  "endure  as  seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible." 

On  the  faithful  observance  by  this  pious  female,  of  all 
that  the  Lord  commanded  her,  was  the  deliverance  of  Israel 
from  the  Philistian's  yoke,  made  dependant  by  Divine 
Wisdom:  the  promise  was  made  to  her  personally, — on 
her  was  the  correspondent  duty  and  the  self-denial  impo- 
sed. That  she  scrupulously  submitted  to  the  divine  re- 
quirements is  evident,  since  the  promised  child  appeared 
as  predicted:  even  in  the  season  wrhen  Samson's  miracu- 
lous powers  were  rendered  most  apparent,  he  obediently 

deferred  to  the  claims  of  a  mother,  who  for  his  sake  had 

7  » 

submitted  to  a  long  season  of  self-denying  bodily  privations, 
and  who  probably  exercised  herself  in  special  devotion  on 
his  account. 

It  would  be  scarcely  possible,  by  any  labored  or  prolix 
description,  to  give  a  more  vivid  representation  of  national 


WOMEN    AND   THEIR    STATION    AMONG     THB    HEBREWS.      73 

misery  than  is  conveyed  in  the  brief  but  impressive  sen- 
tence with  which  the  divine  penman  concludes  the  book 
of  Judges:  "  every  man  did  that  which  was  right  in  his 
own  eyes." 

The  causes  of  political  disturbance  were  chiefly  refera- 
ble to  two  heads  i-r-the,  disunion  and  jealousy  of  the  tribes, 
—and  the  pusillanimity  and  effeminacy  of  the  people, — 
both  of  which  evils  owed  their  origin  to  idolatry^  which  is 
uniformly  represented  in  Scripture  as  ihc  fruitful  parent 
of  all  national  calamity.  Under  this  state  of  things  open 
defection  from  the  faith,  and  secret, apostacy  abounded; 
even  Kli,  the  priest  of  the  Lord,  though  sincere  himself,  by 
his  parental  unfaithfulness  became  the  occasion  of  leading 
his  sons  to  a  course  of  action  which  made  kt  the  Lord's  peo- 
ple to  transgress."  In  this  critical  and  ominous  crisis  of  the 
history  of  the  Hebrews,  the  God  of  Abraham  yet  remem- 
bered his  covenant  p^pmise,  and  devized  a  plan,  by  means 
of  which  the  knowledge  of  him  was  preserved,  and  a  way 
prepared  for  the  promised  Redeemer  of  Israel.  The  his- 
tory of  Samuel,  the  reformer,  deliverer  and  judge, — the 
priest  and  prophet  of  Israel, — whose  wisdom  and  piety 
were  under  God,^ind  by  his  special  appointment,  so  emi- 
nently serviceable  to  his  nation,  is  one  that  especially 
commends  itself  to  the  hearts  of  women.  In  "  the  asked 
of  God,"  granted  by  him  in  answer  to  the  petitions,  which 
rose  from  Hannah's  "  abundance  of  complaint  and  grief," 
— we  read  a  remarkable  attestation,  from  the  mouth  of 
God,  to  the  efficacy  of  prayer  in  woman.  "  I  have  pour- 
ed out  my  soul  before,  the  Lord,"  exclaimed  the  wife  of 
Elkanah,  when  meekly  replying  to  Eli's  severe  reflection 
tiori  on  her  character;  as  if  to  account  for  the  patience 
with  which  she  bore  an  allegation  so  grievous.  If  Han- 
nah's case  is  strikingly  illustrative  of  the  devotional  excr- 

7 


74      WOMEN    AND    THEIR    STATION    AMONG     THE     HEBREWS. 

cises  in  the  sight  of  the  Almighty,  no  less  is  it  deserving 
of  imitation  as  a  model  to  females  of  faithfulness  in  duty. 
"For  this  child  I  prayed,"  said  she  when  full  of  piotisjoy, 
she  brought  him  up  to  the  temple  of  God  at  Shiloh,  for 
presentation:  "  And  the  Lord  hath  given  me  my  petition, 
which  1  asked  of  him:  therefore  also  I  have  lent  him  to  the 
Lord  as  long  as  he  liveth;  he  shall  be  lent  to  the  Lord."' 
No  reference  it  is  observable,  is  made  to  Elkanah,  though 
Hannah's  special  affection  for  him  had  been  previously 
noted.  Having  given  up  her  most  precious  earthly  trea- 
sure to  him  from  whom  she  had  received  it,  and  unknit, 
as  it  were  that  sweet  and  holy  tie  which  cemented  the 
hearts  of  mother  and  child,  in  the  daily  and  hourly  inter- 
change of  affectionate  words  and  tender  glances-, — Han- 
nah returned  to  a  home  no  longer  enlivened  by  the  pre- 
sence of  her  beloved  son.  But  when  we  might  naturally 
expect  to  hear  some  maternal  regrets, — some  outbursts 
of  wounded  and  agonized  feeling  under  the  separation,- — 
we  find  her  strong  in  faith  rejoicing  in  the  Lord.  It  was 
not  sufficient  for  her  that  she  had  beheld  her  duty  so 
'plainly  traced  out,  as  to  be  constrained  to  submit  to  it  for 
duty's  sake, — she  had  risen  to  a  higher  measure  of  holiness 
and  could  find  delight  and  her  sweetest  enjoyment  in  its 
fulfilment.  In  the  prayer  or  spiritual  song.whieh  she  pour- 
ed forth  so  eloquently  on  that  occasion,  we  find  the  natu- 
ral sensibility  of  her  nature,  animated  by  the  breathings  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  and  she  who  could  once  in  the  ful- 
ness •  of  her  emotions  only  "  speak  with  her  heart," 
while  "  her  voice  was  not  heard," — was  now  by  the  pre- 
sence of  the  Comforter,  inspired  to  predict  with  an  enlarg- 
ed, and  fervent,  and  prophetic  spirit,  not  only  the  future 
dealings  of  Jehovah  with  her  own  people,  but  also  his  pro- 
vidential dispensations  towards'the  human  race,  even  to 


WOMEN   AND   THfiTR   STATION     AMONG   THE     HEBREWS.       75 

the  consummation  of  all  things; — while  this  beautiful  tri- 
bute of  maternal  gratitude,  of  pious,  adoring,  thankfulness 
of  woman  to  the  Lord  her  "rock,"  has  remained  as  a 
chalice,  in  which  the  praises  of  God's  people  have  been 
continually  offered  through  all  subsequent  ages. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

WOMEN  DURING  THE  MIPDLE    AGES  OF  THE   HEBREW  COMMON- 
WEALTH. 

Hannah  having  obtained  the  object  of  her  fervent  re- 
quest at  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  and  dedicated  her  heloved 
Samuel  to  the  service  of  him,  from  whom  she  received  the 
precious  hoon, — in  the  character  of  prophetess  tolernnized 
his  consecration,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  last  chapter,  and 
then  probably  withdrew  to  the  hallowed  scenes  of  domes- 
tic privacy;  for  her  name  no  more  occurs  in  the  sacred 
pages,  nor  are  the  circumstances  of  her  death,  or  the  lo- 
cality which  marked  her  last  resting  place,  handed  down 
to  posterity.  She  had,  however,  herself  reared  a  mauso- 
leum to  perpetuate  her  memory,  in  the  holy  canticle 
which  her  son  was  permitted  the  precious  privilege  of  in- 
scribing in  that  part  of  the  divine  oracles,  of  which  he  was 
the  infipired  writer.  It  is  not  improbable  that  she  was 
permitted  to  live,  to  behold  the  glorious  fulfilment  of  her 
fondest  expectations,  when  "  all  Israel,  even  from  Dan  to 
Beersheba,  knew  that  Samuel  was  established  to  be  a  pro- 
phot  of  the  Lord;" — pre-eminent  in  this  office  above  all 
who  had  appeared  subsequent  to  the  time  of  Moses,  and 
he  with  whom  prophecy  was  first  regularly  established. 

Samuel  was,  moreover,  distinguished  for  wisdom,  piety, 
and  inflexible  integrity  in  the  discharge  of  his  high  func- 
tions; but  the  people,  notwithstanding,  became  either  im- 
patient under  his  mild  and  equitable  but  unmilitary  gov- 


WOMEN    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES   OF   THE    COMMONWEALTH.    77 

ernment,  or  feared  that  after  his  death,  his  degenerate 
sons,  would  prove  themselves  wholly  incompetent  to  fill 
his  place,  and  exercise  supreme  authority  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  was  considered  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the 
interests  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth. 

A  king  was  therefore  desired  hy  the  Jewish  people,  and 
God  acceded  to  their  earnest  request,  by  directing  Samuel 
to  annoint  Saul,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  to  be  king  over 
Israel.  By  this  alteration  which  took  place  during  the 
administration  of  Samuel,  the  theocracy  of  the  Hebrews 
was  rendered  less  prominent,  though  it  was  by  no  means 
entirely  subverted;,  it  continued  (o  modify  the  monarchial 
government  of  the  chosen  people  of  God,  rendering  it  es- 
sentially different  from  that  of  any  other  nation  which  has 
ever  existed;  the  succession  to  the  royal  houses  being  for- 
mally regulated  by  divine  authority,  and  expulsion  from 
the  throne,  determined  by  the  same  overruling  power. — 
Saul  appears  to  have  discharged  his  official  functions,  as 
far  as  his  subjects  were  concerned,  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
call  forth  no  animadversions  from  them;  but  he  forgot  the 
relation  which  he  sustained  to  the  invisible  and  Supreme 
head  of  his  nation, — the"  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords:" 
— he  became  self-sufficient  and  disobedient  to  the  divine 
requirements,  and  after  having  wilfully  provoked  the  dis- 
pleasure of  Jehovah,  received  from  Samuel  an  annuncia- 
tion of  the  transfer  of  the  sceptre,  to  another  and  more 
humble  minded  individual  in  the  person  of  David,  the 
youngest  son  of  Jesse  the  Bethlehemite.  The  appointed 
successor  of  Saul  was  of  a  princely  family  in  Judah,  pos- 
sessing an  understanding  naturally  vigorous,  a  heart  deeply 
imbued  with  a  love  of  divine  truth.  In  the  scenes  of  se- 
clusion, to  which  his  pastoral  occupations  necessarily  con- 
signed  him,  his  pious  mind  seems  to  have  been  expanded 


?8    \VOMEN    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

by  deep  reflection  and  meditation  on  the  sublimfe  and  glo- 
rious truths  of  religion.  The  majesty,  incomprehensible 
power,  holiness  and  infinite  love  and  mercy  of  the  God  of 
his  people; — the  glorious  anticipations  of  prophecy; — the 
wonders  of  creation, —  the  corruption  and  misery  of  man's 
state  by  nature,  and  the  holiness  and  blessedness  which  was 
to  be  his  portion  when  redeemed  by  the  mercy  of  Him 
whose  advent  he  devoutlynnd  joyfully  anticipated; — these 
were  the  subjects  on  which  he  pondered  by  day.  and  medi- 
tated during  the  sleepless  watches  of  those  cloudless  and 
beautiful  nights,  which  arc  experienced  in  the  climate  of 
Judca.  Sanctified  meditation  produced  the  same  effect 
on  David  which  it  has  uniformly  done  in  the  case  of  others 
who,  in  subsequent  periods,  have  sought  to  add  to  their 
faith  that  intellectual  and  moral  fortitude  or  vigor,  which 
is  most  important  to  the  character,  but  which  caii  never 
be  attained  so  effectually  as  by  resolute  perseverance  in 
disciplining  the  processes  of  the  understanding,  to  well 
sustained  reflection. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  original  endowments  of  mind 
and  heart,  and  the  spiritual  altainmentsof  David, — gilded 
by  the  military  achievements  which  he  had  wrought  for 
the  deliverance  of  Israel, — yet  were  the  Hebrews  careful 
to  recognize  his  right  to  the  throne  as  consisting  mainly 
in  this:  "  The  Lord  said  to  thee,  Thou  shall  feed  my  peo- 
ple Israel,  and  thou  shall  be  a  captain  over  Israel." 

He  justified  God's  selection  of  him  as  the  ruler  of  his 
chosen  people,  whose  interests  he  labored  assiduously  to 
advance;  he  brought  the  public  affairs  into  order,  and  im- 
proved the  civil  condition  of  the  nation,  while  he  gave  es- 
pecial attention  to  the  promotion  of  religion  and  morality. 
He  composed  for  the  service  of  the  priests  animating  and 
instructive  psalms,  and  incited  other  eminent  individuals 


jj 

WOMEN   IN  THE   .MIDDLE   AGES   OF   THE   COMMON  WEALTH.    79 

to  the  same  work;  and  by  these  and  other  wise  and  judi- 
cious expedients,  without  having  resource  to  compulsory 
measure?,  he  succeeded  in  subduing  the  idolatrous  practi- 
ces which,  had  been  previously  prevalent  in  Israel.  The 
limits  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  were  extended  and 
confirmed  under  his  wise  administration,  until  its  power 
extended,  as  had  been  predicted,  to  the  Euphrates.  By 
subjecting  the  Edomite?,  and  conquering  other  eastern  na- 
tions, he  was  also  instrumental  in  inspiring  among  these 
people  a  fevcrent  fear  of  the  God  of  Israel,  whose  vassal 
and  liege  subject  he  was  ever  ready  to  acknowledge  him- 
self. While  David  stands  conspicuous  as  a  sovereign  in 
Holy  Writ,  and  is  exhibited  unhesitatingly  by  the  sacred 
historian  as  an  obedient,  sincere  and  zealous  worshipper 
of  the  Almighty,  no  attempt  is  made  to  disguise  and  palli- 
ate the  grtevoiw  sins  which  he  was  afterwards  impelled  to 
commit  under*  the 'power  of  remaining  corruption.  In  the 
fifty-first  Psalm  he  has  handed  down  to  posterity,  for  the 
instruction  of  penitents  in  all  ages,  the  memorial  of  his  re- 
pentance, his  self-abhorrence,  his  self-abasement,  and  his 
belief  in  the  forgiving  love  of  God,  as  pledged  for  the  sal- 
vation of  the  sinner,  and  the  sanctification  of  his  corrupt  na- 
ture.— The  history  of  David,  in  its  progress,  gives  the 
sacred  historian  repeated  opportunities  of  unfolding  to  us 
incidentally,  fls  it  were,  many  particulars  respecting  the 
social  state  of  the  Hebrew  women,  and  exhibits  the  influ- 
ence which  they  possess  as  moral  agents.  The  power  of 
female  attraction  over  the  heart  of  this  eminent  servant  of 
God,  was  developed  in  an  extraordinary  manner;  but  its 
results,  in  some  instances,  proved  that  the  increased  luxu- 
ry and  advancement  in  arts  ascribed  by  David  to  his  pre- 
decessor, in  the  pathetic  lament  which  he  made  over  his 
lifeless  remains,  had  in  no  degree,  improved  the  tone  of 


80   WOMEN   IN   THE   MIDDLE  AGES   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

female  morals.  In  Abigail  and  Bathshcha,  we  find,  dis- 
tinct manifestations  of  female  character,  though  both  were 
entirely  unlike  what  had  been  exhibited  to  us  previously 
in  the  women  of  the  early  ages  of  (he  Hebrew  common- 
wealth. The  former  appears  to  have  been  remarkable 
for  pruJence  and  sagacity,  as  well  as  for  piety  an.d  per- 
sonal beauty.  Her  conduct  through  the  whole  transac- 
tions in  which  she  bore  so  conspicuous  a  part,  evinces  her 
to  have  been  endowed  with  no  ordinary  decision,  acuteness 
and  business  tact,  and  her  dependents  appear  to  have  de- 
ferred to  her  wisdom  entirely,  to  extricate  them  from  the 
dilemma  in  which  they  had  been  thrown  by  the  churlish 
and  evil  tongucd  Nabal.  There  was  no  ordinary  intellec- 
tuality manifested  in  her  effort  to  dissuade  -David  from 
prosecuting  his  purpose  and  vengeance,  but  it  was  not,  we 
feel  assured,  through  mere  finesse  that  she  alluded  to  his 
future  prospects,  or  as  a  matter  of  policy,  by  which  artfully 
to  ingratiate  herself  in  his  favor;  she  was  evidently  a  de- 
vout personage,  and  recognized  in  him  the  divinely  ap- 
pointed sovereign  of  her  people, — the  vice-roy  of  her  God. 
She  could  not  disguise  the  folly  and  wickedness  of  her  hus- 
band, but  with  consummate  address,  made  use  of  this  very 
fact  as  an  argument  to  induce  David  to  refrain  from  the 
execution  of  his  purposed  revenge,  Abigail  with  winning 
accents,  sought  to  exert  her  influence  as  a  moral  agent,  in 
dissuading  a  warrior  in  the  pride  of  his  heart  from  cmbru- 
ing  his  hands  in  blood;  and  the  truth  of  her  appeal  was 
recognized  and  submitted  to,  by  the  previously  irritated 
and  chafed  David.  Unable  to  resist  her  pleadings,  he 
acknowledged  himself  conquered  and  exclaimed,  -"Bless- 
ed be  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  which  sent  thee  this  day  to 
me;  and  blessed  be  thy  advice,  which  hath  kept  me  tint 
day  from  coming  to  shed  blood,  and  from  avenging  myself 


WOMEN  IN  THE  MIDDLE  AGES  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.  81 

with  mine  own  hand,"  etc.  Would  that  females  had  ever 
been  found  ready  like  Abigail,  to  stay  the  spirit  of  revenge, 
and  mollify  with  the  precious  ointment  of  pious,  intelligent, 
respectful  and  affectionate  counsels,  the  irritated  and  fe- 
verish spirit  of  the  stronger  sex,  instead  of  provoking  them 
to  more  violent  recrimination!  The  beauty,  prudence 
and  intelligence,  combined  with  the  piet)  of  Abigail,  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  David,  and  induced  him 
after  her  husband's  death,  in  conformity  to  the  custom  of 
the  times,  to  add  her,  with  other  favorite  females,  to  his 
numerous  list  of  wives.  His  sanction  of  polygamy  we  feel 
constrained  to  lament,  as  inconsistent  with  his  spirituality 
of  character,  and  as  causing  the  name  of  his  Lord  to  be 
dishonored,  while  to  him  personally  it  proved  the  occasion 
of  much  subsequent  sin  and  misery.  Had  one  woman  like 
Abigail  continued  to  maintain  a  virtuous  hold  over  the  af- 
fections, and  a  moral  sway  over  the  understanding  of  Da- 
vid, what  hours  of  deep  remorse  might  not  have  been 
spared  to  him,  and  what  great  occasion  would  have  been 
spared  to  "  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  to  blaspheme?"  But 
David,  having  accustomed  himself  without  hesitancy,  to 
marry  any  woman  for  whom  he  chanced  to  feel  affection, 
in  a  season  of  self-ip.dulgence  and  confident  security,  pro- 
ceeded to  commit  one  of  the  most  grievous  crimes,  which 
justly  subjected  him  to  death  by  the  judicial  law  of  Moses. 
The  enormity  of  the  deed  was  immeasurably  increased  by 
his  intimate  acquaintance  with  all  the  requirements  of 
duty,  human  and  divine, — by  his  position  as  the  chosen  and 
divinely  appointed  head  of  the  JewisJi  people,  and  by  his 
previous  profession  of  religion.  Had  Bathsheba  rejected 
his  guilty  advances,  she  might,  like  the  virtuous  Abigail, 
have  merited  the  same  commendation,  and  received  a 
blessing,  as  the  messenger  of  God,  deputed  to  check  the 


82    WOMEN'  IN  THE    MIDDLE    AGES  OF   THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

progressive  advance  of  sin,  and  forcibly  crush  the  root  of 
bitterness  while  yet  in  its  n  iscent  state,  and  before  it  had 
expanded  into  the  odiousness  which  marked  its  full  devel- 
opment. 

The  account  handed  down  to  us  of  Bathsheba  certainly 
indicate  that  her  intellectual  charms  "were  in  no  respect 
inferior'  to  her  personal  .beauty,  since  she  appears  to  have 
exerted  almost  unbounded  sway  over  the  minds  both  of 
her  husband  aud  son.  In  her  conduct  at  xthe  time  when 
Solomon's  succession  to  the  throne  was  in  jeopardy,  we 
observe  her  political  sagacity,  decision,  and  promptitude 
strikingly  exemplified;  and  Nathan  the  prophet,  evidently 
placed,  great  confidence  in'  her  judgment  and  discretion, 
since  he  entrusted  to  her  the  management  of  a  most  im- 
portant transaction,  essential  to  the  safety  of  the  kingdom 
of  Israel.  We  can  detect  no  evidence  that  she  strengthen- 
ed or  confirmed  her  influence  by  any  striking  manifesta- 
tion of  the  virtues  especially  assigned  to  woman  in  her 
proper  station.  Some  persons  have  endeavored,  indeed, 
to  maintain  the  opinion,  that  the  mother  of  Solomon  was 
the  virtuous  matron  mentioned  in  the  thirty-first  chapter 
of  Proverbs,  which  it  is  asserted  was  transcribed  from 
memory  by  Solomon  from  the  instructionss  of  Bathsheba, 
especially  directed  to  him.  But  a  majority  of  our  most 
learned  divines,  have  adduced  cogent  arguments  to  prove 
the  fallacy  of  this  supposition;  the  numerous  Chaldaic 
expressions  observable  in  the  -original,  afford,  it  is  said,  in- 
dubitable evidence  that  it  was  composed  at  a  time  anterior 
to  the  era  of  Solomon,  and  probably  by  Lemuel,  some 
neighboring  prince  who  had  been  blessed  in  having  for  a 
mother  a  pious  Israelite. 

Notwithstanding  obscurity  rests  upon  the  name  of  the 
two  individuals  so  strikingly  alluded  to  in  this  portion  of 


WOMEN  IN   THE  MIDDLE   AGES    OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.   83 

Scripture,  it  is  yet  an  inestimable  treasure  to  us,  when  ' 
endeavoring  to  form  an  estimate  of, the  notions  of  ferr.ale 
excellence  entertained  by  the  Hebrews  of  the  middle  ages 
of  the  commonwealth,  as  it  Is  to  this  period  allowed  to  be 
referrable.  It  furnishes  documentary  evidence  of  what 
was  considered  the  standard  of  duty,  recognized  by  the- 
highest  order  of  female  minds  in  the  nation,  and  exhibiss 
in  its  beautifully  graphic  touches,  criteria,  by  which  we 
may  measure  the  importance  of  the  sex  in  the  civil  and 

social  relations,  and  the  influence  exerted  by  them  as  ob- 

•P  *  • 

served  in  we  aspect  of  society.     It  is  a  well  known  fact, 

that  public  writers  of  excellence  conform  even  their  ideal 
characters  to  the  standard  of  opinion,  most  authoritatively 
maintained  at  the  periodjn  which  they  flourished,  and  we 
may  be  therefore  not  unwarranted  m  receiving  the  poetic 
but  tr,uly  admirable  picture  of  the  "  virtuous  woman," 
whose  price  was  above  rubies,  given  in  the  thirty-first 
chapter  «f  Proverbs,  as  a  portraiture  of  the  highest  order 
o,f  female  excellence,  most  esteemed  and  loved  in  the  &a 
at  which  it  was  written,.  There  is  no  hyperbolic  or  adu- 
latory language  employed  in  describing  the  various  traits 
of  excellence, — no  intimation  given  that  the  heroine  was  a 
super-human  being,  or  one  whose  example  was  not  imi- 
table:  we  behold  on  the  contrary, 

"  With  eye  serene,       .  ^ 
The  very  pulse  of -the  machine; 
A  being,  breathing  thoughtful  breath, 
A  traveller  betwixt  life  and  .death; 
The  reason  firm,  thejtemperate  will, 
Endurance,  foresight,  strength  and  skill, 
A  perfect  woman,,  nobly  planned, 
To  v/arn,  to  comfort  and  command; 
And  yet  a  spirit  still  arid  bright 
With  something  of  an  angel  light.''— WOTOSWORTH. 


84    WOMEN  IN   THE  MIDDLE    AGES  OF    THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

The  general  outline  of  female  excellence  is  first  sketch- 
ed,— then  the  minute  points  of  duty  arc:  specified, — so  that 
we  feel  after  perusing  it,  almost  as  if  we  had  been  intro- 
duced into  th(v  society  of  exemplary  Hebrew  women,  and 
had  been  permitted  to  ascertain  their  excellencies  by  per- 
sonal observation.  The  virtuous  unknown  we  are  called 
on  to  contemplate  is  no  automaton,  or  passive  and  unre- 
refiecling  subject  of  the  volitions  of  another  mind;  her 
character  is  conspicuous  for  mental  energy  and  moral 
principle;  "  the  heart  of  her  husband  safely  trusts  in  her," 
— instinctively  persuaded  that  she  will  "  do  him  good  and 
not  evil,  all  the-  days  of  his  life."  She  is  economical  and 
industrious,  not  from  constraint  or  because  she  can  find  no 
other  resource?;  "she  worketh  willingly  with  her  hands;" 
she  had  discretion,  ability  and  judgment,  to  transact  busi- 
ness of  a  kind  essential  to  her  family;  "she  bringeth  her 
food  from  afar;" — she  provides  for  the  comforts  as  well  as 
the  necessities  of  her  household;  she  is  not  luxurious,  but 
practices  wholesome  self-denial,  as  a  conservative  principle 
of  character;  she  is  watchful  over  the  comfort  of  others; 
notable  and  even  tasteful,  and  thinks  it  no  wise  derogatory 
to  her  dignity  to  seek  to  make  her  home  attractive  as  well 
as  comfortable  to  all  its  inmates;  her  judicious  attention 
to  the  minutiae  of  her  husband's  arrangements,  is  made 
conspicuous  in  the  neatness  and  well  ordered  state  of  his 
wardrobe,  while  his  confidence  in  her  prudence  and  do- 
mestic ability  assists  him  in  maintaining  lhat  well  balanced 
state  of  mind  and  principle  so  essential  to  a  man  in  the 
public  discharge  of  duty.  Nor  are  these  all  her  excellen- 
ces; her  mind  is  so  much  enlightened,  that  her  conversa- 
tion is  edifying  and  instructive,  while  as  the  crowning  and 
ennobling  grace  of  her  character,  she  adds  "  the  ornament 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit;"  she  infuses  into  all  her  duties 


WOMEN  IN  THE   MIDDLE    AGES  OF  THE   COMMONWEALTH.    85 

the  leaven  of  her  renewed  nature;  her  influence  thus  he- 
coming  improved  and  sanctified,  "the  blessed  results  de- 
signed by  God  in  woman's  creation  are  realized;" — her 
"  children  arise  up  and  call  her  blessed ;  her  husband  also, 
and  he  praiseth  her;1'  exclaiming,  "  Many  daughters  have 
done  virtuously,  but  thou  cxcellest  them  all!" 

The  summing  up  of  this  beautiful  sketch  deservedly 
merits  our  attention,  and  is  a  striking  attestation  of  the 
truth  of  the  opinion  I  am  seeking  to  illustrate — viz.,  that 
the  Hebrew  women,  and  those  of  Christianized  countries, 
can  alone  manifest  in  perfection,  those  graces  which  their 
sex  was  commissioned  to  develope,  since  they  only  are  in 
possession  of  the  talismanic  principle  of  action,  which  can 
ensure  success  in  the  formation  of  female  character.  The 
sacred  writer,  whoever  he  be,  exclaims  with  emphatic 
solemnity,  "  Favor  is  deceitful,  and  beauty  is  vain;  but  a 
woman  thatfeareth  the  Lord,  she  shall  be  praised." 

In  commemoration  of  the  Almighty's  reconciliation  with 
his  offending  parents,  the  son  of  David  and  Bathseeba, 
born  after  their  marriage,  had  received  the  name  of  Solo- 
mon, or  the  peaceable;  and  to  this  was  affixed  that  of  Jedi- 
diah,  or  beloved  of 'the  Lord,  in  token  of  God's  especial  fa- 
vor towards  him.  Before  he  had  reached  his  twentieth 
year,  this  distinguished  son  of  David,  was  elevated  to  the 
throne  of  Israel,  and  received  with  his  father's  blessing,  his 
dying  counsel  and  directions  for  the  administration  of  pub- 
lic affairs;  as  David  had  ever  been  ready  to  maintain  alle- 
giance to  the  God  of  Israel,  and  had  been  permitted  avow- 
edly to  accojnplish  great  things  for  his  people,  because  he 
rightly  maintained  the  theocratical  principles  of  govern- 
ment, so  did  he  zealously  exhort  "  the  beloved  of  the 
Lord,"  saying,  "  keep  the  charge  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  to 

walk  in  his  ways,  to  keep  his  statutes,  and  his  command- 

8 


86   WOMEN   IN  THE  MIDDLE    AGES  OF  THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

ments,and  his  judgments,  and  his  testimonies,  as  it  is  writ- 
ten in  the  law  of  Moses,  that  thou  maycst  prosper  in  all 
that  thou  doest,  and  whithersoever  thou  turnest  thyself." 
Never  could  a  youthful  monarch  have  entered  with 
brighter  worldly  prospects  upon  the  discharge  of  his  high 
functions;  the  power  of  the  Hebrews  was  at  that  time 
feared  by  the  surrounding  nations;  the  Canaanites,  for- 
merly so  troublesome,  had  not  been  indeed  expelled  or 
destroyed,  but  they  were  held  completely  in  check  to  the 
dominion  of  the  Israelites; — the  warlike  Philistines  and 
Edomites  no  longer  dared  ravage  their  territories,  but  paid 
a  yearly  tribute  to  them;  his  own  subjects  were  in  peace 
and  great  prosperity,  so  that  silver  came  to  be  considered 
"  in  Jerusalem  as  stones,  and  cedars  made  he  to  be  as  the 
Sycamore  trees  that  are  in  the  vale  for  abundance.''  The 
arts  and  sciences  flourished  exceedingly  under  his  fostering 
care,  "  since  he  not  only  "  exceeded  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth  for  riches  and  for  wisdom,"  but  also  in  learning  and 
acquirements.  He,  however,  possessed  greater  privileges 
than  all  these  worldly  advantages; — he  had  received 
blessings  from  the  lips  of  a  wise  and  pious  earthly  father; 
and  more  than  this,  the  Lord  had  appeared  to  him  in  a 
dream  by  night,  and  had  offered  to  bestow  on  him  what 
gift  soever  he  desired;  and  when  Solomon  had  besought 
him  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  his  intellectual  faculties, 
and  to  give  him  peculiar  aptitude  to  discharge  his  high 
and  responsible  functions  with  integrity  fidelity  and  wis- 
dom, his  request  had  been  granted,  and  his  earnest  desires 
even  exceeded. 

But  in  the  midst  of  all  this  apparent  prosperity  and 
splendor,  Solomon  was  to  give  the  world  a  solemn  lesson, 
on  the  vanity  of  earthly  expectations;  the  once  favored  of 
the  Lord, — who  in  early  life  is  declared  to  have  "loved 


"WOMEN  IN   THE  MIDDLE  AGES    OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    87 

the  Lord," — the  intellectual,  learned,  magnificent  king  of 
Israel  fell  from  his  high  estate,  and  yielded  to  the  pervert- 
ed influence  of  female  minds,  and  suffered  his  idolatrous 
wives  to  turn  "away  his  heart  after  other  gods;  and  his 
heart  was  not  perfect  with  the  Lord  his  God,  as  was  the 
heart  of  David  his  father/'  Nay,  the  evil  did  not  stop 
here,  for  so  great  an  ascendancy  did  these  "  strange  wo- 
men" obtain  over  the  once  renotvned  potentate  of  the  earth, 
that  they  persuaded  him  in  gross  violation  of  his  duty  to 
his  God  and  his  subjects,  to  sanction  their  idolatrous  prac- 
tices in  his  very  capital;  to  build  temples  to  their  gods; 
and  finally,  in  the  climax  of  their  power,  it  is  feared  they 
influenced  him  to  commit  the  last  tragic  act,  by  joining 
with  them  in  idolatrous  worship. 

After  the  example  of  his  father,  he  had  commenced  his 
departure  from  the  law  of  God,  by  taking  many  wives;  but 
he  greatly  aggravated  his  parent's  sin  both  in  kind  and  de- 
gree, for  he  swelled  the  list  of  the  females  of  his  harem  till  it 
numbered  a  thousand; — and  selected  them,  unlike  David, 
from  the  royal  houses  of  idolatrous  nations;  an  additional 
act  of  express  disobedience  to  the  divine  commands.  But 
Solomon,  while  presenting  a  melancholy  proof  of  the  power 
of  misdirected  female  influence  over  the  noblest  and  stron- 
gest minded  men,  impeached  not  the  moral  power  of  the 
Hebrew  women;  not  one  of  whom  is  named  in  the  sad 
catalogue  of  his  ensnarers  to  ruin.  On  the  contrary,  in 
various  parts  of  his  writings,  he  seems  constrained  to  render 
respectful  homage  to  their  worth,  and  acknowledgments 
to  their  power  as  faithful  exerters  of  wholesome  moral  in- 
fluence. "  A  virtuous  woman,"  he  exclaims,  "  is  a  crown 
to  her  husband,"  and  is  so  great  a  treasure,  that  we  may 
declare,  "  A  prudent  wife  is  from  the  Lord."  Her  influ- 
ence he  pronounced  deeply  influential  on  the  fate  of  her 


88   WOMEN   IN  THE    MIDDLE  AGES  OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

iamily,  asserting  that "  a  wise  woman  buildeth  her  house;'' 
that  is,  ensures,  humanly  speaking,  the  attaining  of  her 
children  to  honor  and  affectionate  consideration  in  the  eyes 
of  God  and  man. 

Female  influence,  as  exerted  within  the  precincts  of  the 
palaces  of  Jerusalem  and  Samaria,  during  the  days  of  the 
monarchy,  from  the  era  of  Solomon  until  the  Babylonish 
captivity,  appears  to  have  been  modified  among  the  He- 
brew princesses  as  it  too  generally  has  been  since  among 
nominally  Christian  nations.  The  virtues  and  mental 
qualities  which  the  sex  were  appointed  to  manifest,  either 
found  less  frequent  entrance  there,  or  were  not  called  out 
into  public  exercise,  the  chronicles  of  the  kings  of  the  na- 
tion presenting  frequently  only  a  summary  of  civil  dissen- 
tions  or  regal  enormities.  Across  the  dark  and  troublous 
picture,  two  royal  female  forms  may  indeed  be  seen  dis- 
tinctly passing,  and  casting  a  stfll  more  lugubrious  shade 
over  the  sin-stained  courts  of  Israel  and  Judah; — Jezebel 
and  her  daughter,  the  ambitious  and  murderous  Athahah, 
— by  marriage  created  queen  of  Judah.  Jezebel's  history, 
eventful  as  it  was  to  her  family  and  to  the  nation  of  Israel, 
should  not  properly  be  included  in  our  present  subject, 
since  this  dauntless,  unprincipled,  but  most  fatally  influen- 
tial woman,  was  an  alien  from  Israel  by  birth,  being  a 
Zidonian  princess.  Her  daughter  Athaliah  inherited  her 
talents,  her  ambition  and  her  sins,  while  she  labored  with 
equal  assiduity  to  emulate  her  pernicious  example,  and 
finally,  after  having  involved  the  land  of  her  fathers  in  the 
same  misery  that  Jezebel  inflicted  on  the  country  of  her 
adoption,  she  met  a  fate  scarcely  less  tragical  than  that  of 
her  guilty  mother. 

But  let  us  not  suppose  the  royal  females  of  the  Hebrews 
were  prototypes  of  their  coHntry  women  generally.  We 


WOMEN   IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH.    89 

have  found  that  an  unknown  royal  pen  could  eloquently  par- 
ticularize their  vi  rtues,  while  Solomon  attested  their  worth. 
The  sacred  historians  have  presented  other  memorials  of  in- 
dividualsof  their  number,  taken  from  widely  differing  sta- 
tions of  society,  which  incontestably  prove  the  standard  of 
excellence  among  the  Hebrew  women  of  the  middle  ages  of 
the  commonwealth,  was  infinitely  superior  to  that  of  their 
sex  in  Greece  or  Rome  at  their  proudest  days.  In  the  lady 
of  Shunem,  whose  character  is  beautifully  brought  out  in 
full  relief,  we  have  a  specimen  of  Hebrew  women  of  rank 
in  the  age  in  which  she  lived.  Her  intelligence,  extraor- 
dinary piety,  liberality  and  courtesy,  feminine  feeling  are 
exhibited  with  exceeding  vividness  and  freshness  by  the  sa- 
cred penman,  who  without  any  effort  to  force  his  heroine 
upon  our  respect  and  admiration,  constrains  us  by  his  per- 
suasive eloquence,  to  award  her  involuntarily  a  high  place 
in  our  esteem,  and  a  ready  sympathy  in  her  sorrows  and  en- 
joyments. In  the  deference  manifested  towards  her,  by  her 
husband  and  dependants,  we  find  substantial  proofs  of  the 
influence  exerted,  and  the  position  occupied  by  the  vir- 
tuous females  of  her  nation  in  the  domestic  and  social  re- 
lations, while  from  the  respectful  and  affectionate  deport- 
ment of  Elisha,  the  leader  of  the  prophetic  band,  and  the 
vicegerent  of  the  Lord,  we  may  gather  the  opinion  enter- 
tained of  them  as  members  of  the  church  of  God.  It  was 
in  her  breast,  under  the  unction  of  the  spirit,  that  origina- 
ted the  generous  anxiety  to  minister  to  the  comforts  of  the 
holy  man  of  God ;  it  was  her  mind  that  suggested  the  most 
appropriate  mode  of  relief  to  be  extended  towards  him; 
to  her  were  the  thanks  of  the  prophet  returned,  and  the 
blessing  of  God  vouchsafed;  she  alone  in  the  exercise  of 
intelligent  and  lively  faith  discerned  and  embraced  the 
appointed  way  ol  relief  in  the  appalling  hour  of  bereave- 

8* 


90    WOMEN   IN   THE   MIDDLE  AGES   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

ment;  and  to  her  tender  and  pious  bosom,  was  the  miracu- 
lously resuscitated  child  confided  by  Elislia,  as  if  her  joys 
and  sorrows  were  the  subject  uppermost  in  the  bosom  of 
him  who  was  the  prophetic  head  of  the  church  militant 
on  earth. 

Again  we  are  introduced  to  another  class  of  pious  He- 
brew females,  in  the  person  of  a  distressed  widow  of  one 
of  the  sons  of  the  prophets;  a  numerous  and  influential 
body,  in  station  ^and  circumstance  essentially  unlike  the 
great  woman  of  Shunem,  whose  noble  mind,  freed  from 
the  covetous  desires  so  often  the  accompaniment  of  wealth, 
desired  no  increase  of  honor  or  augmentation  of  fortune, 
when  the  prophet  voluntarily  offered  her  an  opportunity 
of  so  doing.  The  afflicted  widows  on  the  contrary,  like 
many  of  her  sister  mourners  among  the  family  of  God's 
ministers  at  the  present  day,  was  in  the  extremest  exigen- 
cy. She  had  nought  in  her  humble  dwelling,  "  save  a  pot 
of  oil."  Yet  was  her  faith  made  instrumental  in  the  de- 
liverance of  her  children  from  slavery  and  death;  and  most 
probably  in  communicating  to  their  hearts,  and  to  these  of 
their  companions  in  affliction,  the  precious  blessings  of 
spiritual  instruction.  But  the  inspired  historian  was  de- 
sirous of  showing  us.  that  not  only  matured  woman,  degra- 
ded and  despised  as  she  was,  in-thc  opinion  of  Gentile  na- 
tions around,  under  the  instructions  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
could  prove  herself  capable  of  becoming  an  influential 
moral  agent;  he  also  designed  to  show  us  that  female 
children,  the  weakest  and  most  worthless  of  humanity  in 
the  eyes  of  heathen,  who  at  their' birth  arc  treated  with 
contumely,  and  whose  lives  are  spared  only  by  sufferance, 
that  even  such  as  these  could  be  influential  moral  agents 
under  the  divine  guidance,  in  leading' the  mighty  and  no- 
ble of  this  world's  votaries  to  the  knowledge  of  truth,  and 


WOMEN    IN   THE   MIDDLE   AGES  OF   THE    COMMONWEALTH.    91 

to  Ihc  abandonment  of  idolatry.  Thus  we  are  informed 
of  a  little  Israelitish  m;ud,  who  having  been  "  brought  away 
captive  out  of  the  land"  of  her  fathers,  waited  on  the  wife 
of  Naaman,  who  was  "  the  captain  of  the  host  of  (ha king 
of  Syria;  a  great  man  with  Jiis  master  and  honorable;"— -- 
k'  but  he  was  a  leper"  This  young,  friendless  and  helpless 
being,'  having  been  probably  treated  kindly  by  her  mis- 
tress, had  learned  to  sympathise  in  her  evident  affliction, 
and  ventured,  in  the  midst  of  an  idolatrous  court,  to  come 
forward  and  suggest  the  hope  of  deliverance  to  her  suffer- 
ing master,  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  prophet  of 
her  God.  The  words  of  the  little  maid,  thus. acting  as 
the  only  representative  of  Jehohah  in  a  luxurious  and  de- 
spotic court,  were  mightily  influential, — they  were  repeat- 
ed to  the  Syrian  monarch,  and  promptly  responded  to,  and 
ISiamaan  was  soon  at/the  court  of  Israel;  yet  a  little  while 
after  a  suppliant  at  the  humble  dwelling  of  Elisha.  At 
first  we  behold  him  a  haughty,  self-sufficient  infidel, — then 
an  humbled,  converted  child  of  God.  He  returned  to 
proclaihi  the  knowledge  of  Jehovah  in  his  master's  domin- 
ions. Thus  even  "out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  suck- 
lings" has  God  "  ordained  strength,"  that  he  might  "  still 
the  enemy  and  the  avenger!1' 


CHAPTER     V  . 

WOMEN    UNDER   THE    DECLINE   AND    TO    THE     SUSPENSION    Of 
THE    HEBREW    COMMONWEALTH. 

The  sundering  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Hebrews  had  been 
a.  consequence  of  (he  erroneous  principles  and  idolatrous 
practices  introduced  at  the  court  of  Solomon.  But  had 
the  monarch  of  the -divided  state,  after  that  decisive 
event,  sought  to  conform  the  principles  of  their  respec- 
tive governments,  to  the  requirements  of  the  divine 
mind,  their  subjects  and  themselves  might  have  continued 
to  enjoy  peace  and  prosperity.  The  majority  of  these 
princes,  however,  grossly  violated  the  fundamental  law  of 
their  civil  polity,  by  openly  sanctioning  and  patronizing 
the  practice  of  idolatry.  The  Almighty  sent  them  one 
prophetic  messenger  after  another,  to  warn  them  of  the 
ruinous  consequences  that  must  inevitably  ensue  to  the 
commonwealth,  unless  a  reformation  in  public  morals  look 
place;  he  visited  them  with  national  calamities  in  a  con- 
secutive chain,  or  at  lengthened  intervals,  to  compel  their 
stubborn,  wayward  and  rebellious  spirits  to  submit  to  his 
will,  and  forsake  their  own  sinful  and  degrading  propensi- 
ties. But  in  vain  did  a  merciful  God,  at  one  moment  woo 
them  by  the  voice  of  love,  at  another  threaten  them  with 
his  righteous  judgments; — the  two  kingdoms,  in  despite 
of  all  such  attempts,  progressed  gradually  but  surely  in 
the  descent  to  decay  and  ruin.' 

The  kingdom  of  Israel  had,  however,  from  the  period 


WOMEN    DURING    THE   DECLINE    OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH    93 

of  the  severance  of  the  state,  been  the  most  daring  in  its 
disregard  to  the  divine  Jaws,  and  as  a  consequence  of  such 
precosity  in  evi  ,  it  first  experienced  the  retributive  justice 
of  the  Almighty;  its  destruction  preceded  that  of  Judah 
by  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  years. 

Among  the  Jewish  kings,  few  were  more  distinguished 
for  consistent  and  fervent  piely  than  the  youthful  Josiah. 
While  yet  in  his  boyhood,  and  when  he  had  scarcely  num- 
bered eighteen  years,  he  attempted  a  public  reformation 
of  religion  throughout  his  dominions.  He  sought  to  re- 
store the  Jewish  ritual  in  its  purity  and  to  repair  and 
beautify  the  temple.  In  the  progress  of  this  work,  a  com- 
plete copy  of  the  book  of  "  the  law  of  the  Lord  by  Moses,"* 
was  found  by  Hilkiah,  the  high  priest,  said  by  the  Jewish 
rabbins  to  have  been  concealed  under  a  paving  stone  in 
the  temple.  It  was  carried  to  king  Josiah  and  read  in  his 
presence.  The  pious  monarch  rent  his  clothes  while  lis- 
tening to  the  solemn  denunciations  of  God's  anger  against 
his  nation,  and  in  the  depth  of  his  emotion  besought  the 
priests  to  this  purpose:  ';  Go  ye,  inquire  of  the  Lord  for 
me,  and  for  the  people,  and  lor  all  Judah;  for  great  is  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  that  is  kindled  against  us,  because  our 
fathers  have  not  hearkened  unto  the  words  of  this  book, 
to  do  according  to  all  that  is  written  concerning  us." 

To  whom  in  this  emergency,  do  we  suppose  the  agitated 
Josiah  and  his  priestly  advizers  applied  for  counsel  and 
spiritual  direction  ?  Jeremiah  and  Zepha  were  prophets 
of  the  Lord  at  that  time,  and  they  were  undoubtedly  pos- 
sessed of  natural  sagacity  and  spiritual  discernment;  for 
the  former  was  expressly  addressed  in  these  words  by  Je- 
hovah, "I  sanctified  thee;  and  I  ordained  thee  a  prophet 

*  2.  Chronicles  xxxiv:  14. 


94   WOMEN   DURING   THE   DECLINE   ©F   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

unto  the  nations;"'  and  "the  word  of  the  Lord"  or  the 
prophetic  commission,  "  came  unto  Zephaniah,"  with  its 
authoritative  mandate  likewise.  But  the  messengers  of 
Josiah  went  not  on  their  important  errand  to  either  of  these 
individuals.  "  Helkiah,"'  says  a  learned  commentator,! 
"  was  a  high  priest;  and  the  priest's  lips  should  retain 
knowledge.  Shaphan  was  a  scribe,  and  must  have  been 
conversant  in  sacred  affairs,  to  have  been  at  all  fit  for  the 
office:  and  yet  Huldah,  a  prophetess  of  whom  we  know 
nothing  but  by  this  circumstance,  is  consulted  on  the 
meaning  of  the  book  of  the  law !  for  the  secret  of  the  Lord 
was  neither  with  Hilkiah  the  high  priest,  nor  Shaphan  the 
scribe,  nor  any  other  servants  of  the  king,  or  ministers  of 
the  temple!''  This  distinguished  female  was  doubtless 
noted  for  eminent  piety,  and  there  is  a  sublimity,  a  deci- 
sive energy  and  dignity  manifest  in  her  message  to  her 
sovereign,  which  indicates  a  cemarkable  elevation  of  intel- 
lectual character;  while  the  language  and  sentiments  are 
instinct  with  feminine  tenderness,  as  if  from  the  constitu- 
tional temperament  of  her  sex,  she  yearned  with  deep 
feeling  over  her  youthful  king.  The  sacred  historian 
makes  no  comment  on  this  singular  circumstance  in  his 
national  history;  he  expresses  no  surprise  that  woman 
should  be  a  deputed  moral  agent  of  his  God ;  it  was  a  fact 
by  no  means  uncommon  in  the  annals  of  his  people  in 
former  ages,  though  the  occasion  of  Huldah's  employment 
was  certainly  remarkable,  and  indicates  strongly  the  re- 
spectful regard  manifested  towards  sanctified  female  in- 
tclligence  among  the  Hebrews.  Ezekiel  the  prophet  wate 
of  a  character  (if  we  may  consider  his  style  as  in  any  de- 
gree its  index)  marked  by  vehemence,  energy  and  a  seve- 

t  Dr.  Adam  Clarke. 


"WOMEN   DURING   THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH.    95 

rity  of  reproof;  but  even  he  whom  Rapin  styled  le  terrible 
among  the  prophets,  regarded  his  beloved  wife  as  the  de- 
sire of  his  et/es,  the  object  of  his  tenderest  affection,  his 
solace,  comforter  and  most  endeared  companion,  under  the 
manifold,  and  accumulated,  and  severe  trials  incident  to 
his  prophetic  mission. 

Happy  had  it  been  for  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth,  had 
females  such  as  Huldah  and  her  sister  spirits  abounded; 
they  formed,  alas!  "but  a  minority  in  the  declining  days 
of  the  monarchy.  The  prophets  especially  directed  their 
reproofs  against  the  proud  and  ostentatious  spirit,  which 
characterized  the  majority  of  the  Hebrew  'women  in  the 
days  preceding  the  Babylonish  captivity;  intimating  that 
their  worldliness,  combined  with  the  oppression  and  idola- 
try of  their  prinoes,  had  proved  the  natural  and  obvious 
causes  of  the  severe  refributive  judgments  which  had 
already  visited,  and  were  still  farther  to  be  executed  on 
their  nation. 

It  was  about  six  hundred  years  before  Christ,  that  Ne- 
buchadnezzar king  of  Babylon,  conquered  Jerusalem,  and 
carried  Jehoiakim,  the  unworthy  son'of  the  pious  Josiah, 
a  fettered  captive  to  his  capital.  The  royal  treasure, — 
the  sacred  utensils  of  the  temple,  and  the  whole  court, 
with  7000  soldiers,  1000  artificers,  and  2000  nobles  or  men 
of  wealth,  with  their  wives,  children  and  servants;  proba- 
bly in  the  whole  amounting  to  40,000  souls,  were  also  car- 
ried away  by  the  conqueror  to  the  river  Chebar,  in  Meso- 
potamia;* and  thus  commenced  the  Babylonish  captivity, 
which,  according  to-  the  prediction  of  Jeremiah,  was  to 
continue  70  years,  as  a  judgment  for  the  national  sins  of 
the  Hebrews.  Babylon,  the  capitol  of  the  Jewish  con- 

*  Jahn's  History  of  the  Hebrew  Commonwealth.     Chapter  V, 


96    WOMEN    DURING   THE    DECLINE    OF   THE    COMMONWEALTH. 

queror,  in  its  time  experienced  live  effects  of  the  retribu- 
tive justice  of  the  Almighty,  and  in  the  sixty-seventh  year 
of  the  Hebrew  captivity,  was  itself  subjected  by  the  vic- 
torious arms  of  Cyrus,  the  divinely  commissioned  servant 
of  the  Most  High,  acting  as  the  general  of  his  uncle  and 
father-in-law,  Darius  the  Mede, — the  Cyaraxes  II.  of  pro- 
fane historians.  Cyrus  in  two  years  succeeded  to  the 
throne  of  the  united  empires  of  Media  and  Persia,  and  one. 
of  the  early  acts  of  his  reign,  was  to  issue  a  proclamation 
throughout  his  vast  dominions,  giving  permission  to  "all 
the  people  of  the  God  of  heaven,"  to  return  to  Judea  and 
rebuild  Jerusalem.  He  generously  delivered  to  the  re- 
turning exiles  the  consecrated  vessels  of  gold  and  silver, 
which  Nebuchadnezzar  had  carried  to  Babylon,  and  more- 
over, gave  permission  to  the  Jews  to  draw  from  his  royal 
treasury  whatever  might  be  needed  to  defray  the  expense 
of  erecting  the  temple  of  the  true  God  at  Jerusalem. 

Many  of  the  Jews,  as  might  readily  have  been  imagined, 
gladly  avai'ed  themselves  of  the  permission  given  them, 
and  a  caravan  was  formed  speedily,  numbering  in  its  train 
near  fifty  thousand  individuals,  inclusive  of  domestics,  and 
headed  by  Zerubbaal,  grandson  of  king  Jehoiachin,  and 
Jeshua,  a  grandson  of  the  high  priest  Jozadak.  Many, 
however,  remained  behind;  some  of  these  are  supposed 
to  have  returned  in  small  detachments  or  in  families,  while 
a  second  grand  assemblage  was  collected  in  the  reign  of 
Xerxes,  according  to  some  authors,*  and  of  Artaxerxes,  on 
the  authority  of  others.! 

We  have  no  correct  data  by  which  to  form  a  satisfac- 
tory opinion  of  the  condition  of  the  Hebrew  women  during 

•  Josephus'  Jewish  Antiquities.     Book  XI.     Chap.  V. 

t  Prideaux'  Connected  History  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.— 
Volume  I.  Book  IV. 


WOMEN   DURING   THE   DECLINE   OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH.    97 

the  regular  period  of  the- Babylonish  captivity,  or  of  the 
general  standard  of  excellence  that  was  maintained  among 
those  who  from  various  causes  lingered  in  the  land  of  their 
exile.  Incidental  remarks,  however,  are  made,  and  hints 
dropped  by  the  sacred  penmen,  from  which  we  may  Anther 
that  they  sympathised  deeply  in  the  affliction  of  their  peo- 
pje  and  rejoiced  in  the  prospect  of  returning  deliverance. 
Jeremiah,  while  pathetically  bewailing  in  his  Lamenta- 
tions, the  sorrows  of  Zion,  which  he  personifies  under  the 
figure  of  a  disconsolate  and  weeping  female,  seated  on  the 
ground  with  none  to  comfort  her,  with  her  cheeks  bedew- 
ed by  tears  which  flowed  unceasingly  through  the  sleep- 
less watches  of  the  night; — suddenly  changes  the  panora? 
mic  yiew,  and,  as  it  were,  presents  a  fresh 'vision  to  the 
spectator,  to  whom  he  unfolds  a  picture  en  pnzsont.  of  the 
interior  of  the  city;  the  gates  are  desolate;  a  cornpanv  of 
sighing  priests  pass  before  us;  then  a  procession  of  her 
virgin  daughters  follow  in  their  steps,  weeping  in. peniten- 
tial sorrow,  not  for  their  departed  luxuries, — their  past 
enjoyments,  or  even  for  their  domestic  afflictions, — but  like 
the  children  of  the  Most  High  God,  mourning  "  because 
none  came  to  the  solemn  feasts"  of  their  Lord.  There  are 
also  two  facts  deserving  of  especial  notice  as  indicative  of 
the  spirit  that  obtained  among  the  Hebrew  womer*  of  the 
captivity: — First.  That  such  especial  stress  was  laid  both 
by  Ezra  and  Nehemjah,  on  the  danger  of  forming  connec- 
tions with  the  women  of  the  land  in  which  they  sojourned: 
implying  that  a  conservative  influence  wa-s  exerted  by  the 
Jewish  women  in  the  domestic  relations;  and,  secondly. 
That  in  the  solemn  religious  exercises  observed  by  the 
assembled  Hebrew  nation,  after  their  return  from  captivity, 
the  women  bore  a  decided  and  apparently  an  equal  part 
with  the  men. 

9 


98    WOMEN   DURING  THE    DECLINE    OF   THE   COMMONWEALTH. 

But  while  f  am  constrained  to  acknowledge  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  evidence,  on  which  to  predicate  confidently,  in 
rcspecf  rothc  state  of  the  Hebrew  females  of  the  captivity, 
I  must  not  omit  the  notice  of  one.  who  was  instrumental  in 
the  hand  of  Providence  of  effecting  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable deliverances  ever  recorded,  ns  having  been  ob- 
tained for  a  whole  people  by  an  individual  of  so  tender  fin 

a°"o 
"a1" 

According  to  the  testimony  of  Josephus,  and  other  his- 
torians, the  successors  of  Cyrus  on  the  throne  of  Persia, 
continued  for  a  considerable  time,  to  manifest  favorable 
dispositions  to  the  Hebrew  nation.  Within  a  little  more 
than  a  century  after  the  promulgation  of  the  edict  of  this 
monarch  in  their  favor,  Artaxexerxes  Longimariu?,  the 
Ahasuerusof  Scripture*  swayed  the  Persian  sceptre,  whose 
sympathy  was  especially  engaged  towards  the  Jewish  peo- 
ple by  peculiar  circumstances.  The  oriental  despot  was 
persuaded  to  depose  his  beloved  and  beautiful  queen 
Vashti,  in  a  fit  of  princely  pique,  because  she  manifested 
an  unwillingness,  perfectly  comprehensible  to  females  of 
delicacy  and  refinement,  to  exhibit  her  dazzling  charms  to 
the  rude  gaze  of  the  sharers  in  the  imperial  revels. — 
Vashti,  though  repudiated  was  not  forgotten,  and  so  deeply 
did  her  lord  feel  her  absence,  that  his  counsellors  suggest- 
ed to  him  the  propriety,  or  expediency,  not  of  seeking  to 
woo  her  back,  but  of  endeavoring  to  find  a  substitute,  whose 
beauty  and  attractions  might  console  him  for  his  divorced 
queen.  At  that  time  there  lived  in  Shushan,  the  royal 
residence  of  the  monarchs  of  Persia,  a  certain  Jew  of  the 

*  In  support  of  this  opinion,  the  author  would  adduce  the  authority 
of  the  learned  Dr.  Prideaux,  who  has  employed  much  time  and  critical 
research  in  the  elucidation  of  this  point.  Prideaux'  Connected  History 
of  the  Jews  and  Neighboring  Nations.  Volumes  1.  and  II.  Books  IV. 
and  V. 


WOMEN    DURING    THE   DECLINE   OF    THE    COMMONWEALTH.    99 

tribe  of  Benjamin,  named  Mordecai,  a  descendant  of  one. 
of  the  Hebrews  who  had  been  carried  captive  to  Babylon 
by  the  victorious  Nebuchadnezzar.  He  had  no  children 
of  his  own,  but  had  brought  up  with  .exceeding  tenderness 
and  care,  a  beautiful  orphan  cousin,  the  daughter  of  his 
deceased  uncle.  The  name  of  this  pretogce  of  Mordecai 
Svas  originally  Hadassah}  which  signifies  myrtle,  afterwards 
changed  to  Esther,  a  star,  probably  in  commemoration  of 
her  exceeding  loveliness.  The  officers  of  king  Ahasuerus, 
under  the  authority  with  which  tliei,r  arbitrary  lord  invest- 
ed them,  searched  all  the  provinces  of  the  kingdom  for  the 
fair  and  beautiful,  whom  they  brought  in'  numbers  to  the 
palace  of  Shu&han; — but  among  them,  all, .not  one  could 
be  found  to  vie  w«ith  the  lovely  Hadassah,  who  had  been 
forcibly  severed*  from  her  second  parent,  and  carried  to 
(he  royal  residence.  Her  behaviour  won  so  much,  upon 
the  Persian  officer  entrusted  with  ttre  care  of  the  virgins, 
that  he  assigned  her  the  best  apartment  in  the  house  ap- 
pointed for  their  residence, .and  in  every  respect  gave  her 
the  precedence  in  attention.  Nor  did  she  commend  her- 
self alone  to  his  favor.  Her  extraordinary  personal  charms, 
heightened  by  the  modest  reserve  habitual  to  her  country- 
women, captivated  Ahasuerus,  who  speedily  encircled  her 
brow  with  the  diadem  which  had  once  graced  the  head  of 
Vashti.  The  nuptials  of  the  Persian  monarch  and  the 
Hebrew  maiden  were  celebrated  with  great  magnificence; 
be  was  not,  however,  apprized  of  the  faith  of  his  bride, 
whorrTMordeeai  had  charged  not  to  divulge  the  fact;  and 
Esther's  mind  had  been  so  well  disciplined,  .and  was  so  full 
of  gratitude  and  virtuous  reverence  towards  her  kinsman, 

*  The  word  we  translate . "  was  brougltf."  may  be  rendered  "  was  ta- 
ken," and  that  by  force,  as  the  word  sometimes  signifies,  and  as  the 
former  Targurn  here  expresses  it,  "  she  was  brought  by  violence." — 
BISHOP  PATRICK. 


100    AVOWED  DU3ING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

that  she  ceased  not  as  the  queen  ©f  Persia  to  do  "the 
commandment  of  Mordecai,"  observes  the  sacred  historian 
with  great  simplicity,  "  like  as  when  she  was  brought  up 
with  him."  A  beautiful  tribute  this  to  the  moral  excel- 
lence of  Esther,  and  a  striking  proof  that  she  possessed  a 
sound  and  well  balanced  mind.  A  character  of  ordinary 
worth  might  have  been  so  far  dazzled  by  the  sudden 
change  in  external  circumstances,  as  to  forget  under  the 
insignia  of  royalty,  to  recognize  the  claims  of  reverence 
and  submission  due  to  a  kinsman  who  was  but  a  porter^  it 
is  supposed,  in  the  king's 'palace.  The  chief  favorite  of 
AhaMierus  at  the  time  of  ^iis  marriage,  was  Hanuin,  an 
Amalekite,  a  descendant  of  Agag,  the  cotemporary  of  Saul. 
The  power  and  pretensions  of  Haman  became  exorbitant, 
and  the  Persian  monarch  exacted  from  all  his  subjects  net 
only  unqualified  marks  of  respect  to  the  man  whom  he 
"delighted  to  honor,"  but  likewise  "some  kind  of  divine 
honors,  such  as  were  paid  customarily  to  the  Persian 
kings  themselves."'  The  conscientious  Mordecai,  feeling 
himself  probably  unjustifiable  in  tendering  these  marks  of 
obeisance  to  any  fellow-creature,- — more  especially  to  an 
idolatrous  heathen,  refused  to  conform  to  tre  requirements 
of  Ahasuerus ;  but  by  so  doing  he  provoked  the  implacable 
animosity  of  Haman;  who  scorning  to  revenge  himself  on 
one  man  alone,  resolved  to  make  the  whole  nation  to  which 
Mordecai  belonged,  a  sacrifice  to  his  resentment.  He 
craftily  managed  the  affair  with  his  master,  with  whom 
his  authority  and  influence  was  unbounded,  and  without 
mentioning  the  Jewish  name,  and  under  pretence  of  zeal 
for  his  sovereign,  obtained  a  decree  from  him,  command- 
ing the  extirpation  throughout  the  extensive  provinces  of 
the  empire  of  "  a  certain  people,  diverse  from  all  people, 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    101 

who  did  not  keep  the  king's  laws,  but  followed  laws  of 
their  own." 

Ahasuerus  affixed  the  royal  seal  that  the  document 
might  remain  unaltered.  Haman  with  industrious  ma- 
lignity collected  the  Persian  scribes,  and  had  innumerable 
copies  multiplied,  and  despatched  with  amazing  prompti- 
tude throughout  the  vast  domains  of  his  sovereign.  The 
Jews  were  thrown  into  extreme  consternation,  and  Mor- 
decai sympathised  in  his  country's  affliction.  He  clothed 
himself  in  sackcloth,  and  seated  himself  without  the  king's 
gate.  Esther  .had  been  at  this  time  several  years  the  wife 
of  Ahasuerus,  yet  had  not  (he  secret  of  her  faith  been 
divulged,  so  that  her  lord  knew  not  that  he  had  given 
validity  to  a' document  which  involved  the  happiness  and 
even  the  life  of  his  beloved  queen.  She  first  became  ap- 
prized of  the  dark  cloud  which  hung  so  ominiously  over 
her  country,  by  making  inquiries -of  Mordecai  through  her 
chamberlain,  as  to  the  nature  of  his  affliction;  the  mourn- 
ful garb  he  had  assumed  having  been  told  her  by  her 
attendants.  Her  cousin,  in  reply,  acquainted  her  with  the 
whole  state  of  the  case,  afid  sent  her  a  copy  of  the  fatal 
decree;  and  authoritatively  charged  her  to  go  forthwith 
"  to  the  king, to  make  supplication  unto  him,  and  to.  make 
request  before  him  for  her  people,"  Esther  demurred, 
and  excused  herself  on  the  plea,  that  she  would  certainly 
be  destroyed  were  she  to  do  so,  since  Ahasuerus  had  not 
summoned  her  to.his  presence,  and  whoever  went  uncall- 
ed before  him,  was  subject  to  the  penalty  of  death,  un- 
less the  king,  should  be  moved  to  clemency,  and  signify  it 
by  extending  his  golden  sceptre.  Mordecai  in  reply,  told 
her  that  she  must  recollect  that  her  own  safety  was  involv- 
ed with  that  of  her  country,  and  that  if  she  neglected  the 

opportunity,  God  would  certainly  interfere  for  the  protec- 

9*   " 


102    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMON  WEALTH. 

tion  of  his  chosen  people,  but  that  she  should  not  share  it, 
if  she  were  not  willing  to  venture  her  life  for  their  preser- 
vation. "  And  who  knoweth,"  he  added,  "  whether  thou 
art  come  to  the  kingdom  for  such  a  time  as  this?'' 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  circumstances  under  which 
Esther  had  bpen  living  for  some  years  previous,  had  ener- 
vated her  character  and  weakened  her  religious  princi- 
ples. The  pleasures  and  luxurious  indulgences  -by  which 
she  was  surrounded  had  indisposed  her  for  self-denying 
duties,  while  the  suppression  of  the  external  acts  of  her 
faith,  and  her  seclusion  from  intercourse  with  her  people, 
had  very  naturally  diminished  her  attachments  to  them, 
and  detracted  considerably  from  the  strength  of  her  na- 
tional sympathies.  Mordecai's  concluding  arguments  had, 
however,  roused  her  from  this  state  of  supineness,  and 
quickened  into  exercise  all  her  feelings  as  a  Hebrew, — a 
daughter  of  God's  captive,  but  peculiar  people.  She 
hesitated  no  longer,  but  consented  to  undertake  the  peril- 
ous mission.  Feelingly  alive  to  the  consciousness  of  her 
danger,  and  the  urgency  of  the  occasion, — aware,  proba- 
bly, of  her  sex's  weakness,  and  the  sinful  propensities  of 
her  nature,  she  demanded  the  united  prayers  of  her  peo- 
ple to  be  poured  forth  to  God  for  her,  in  prospect  of  the 
danger  she  was  about  to  encounter.  She  then,  with  such 
of  her  maidens  as  would  join  with  her  in  the  duty,  pre- 
pared her  mind  by  a  solemn  season  of  fasting,  and  most 
probably  of  special  prayer  and  humiliation,  for  the  scene 
which  awaited  her.  Having  thus  clothed  herself  in  the 
panoply  of  faith,  the  beautiful  Esther  expressed  her  heroic 
determination  to  venture  her  life  for  her  people, — exclaim- 
ing, "  If  1  perish,  I  perish!" 

Having  entered  on  her  task,  she  proceeded  to  the  pre- 
sence of  Ahasuerus,  uncalled — unsummoned.     The  heart 


WOBIEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    103 

of  Esther  and  of  her  people  had  been  poured  forth  in 
prayer,  tha't  God  would  dispose  the  king  to  receive  her  fa- 
vorably, when  she  went  on  her  important  embassy; — he 
"  heard  thei.r  voice  and  their  supplication," — "  she  obtain- 
ed favor  in  the  sight  of  Ahasuerus;  and  the  king  held  out 
to  Esther  the  golden  sceptre  that  was  in  his  hand.  So  Es- 
ther drew  near  and  touched  the  top  of  the  sceptre.  Then 
said  the  king,  what  wilt  thou  queen  Esther?  and  what  is 
thy  request?  it  shall  be  given  thee  even  to  the  half  of  the 
kingdom,"  The  queen  probably  considered  it  prudent  to 
make  some  trial  of  her  lord's  feelings,  before  she  ventured 
on  the  presentation  of  her  petition;  or  her  courage  may 
have  wavered  when  the  moment  of  trial  actually  ap- 
proached; at  all  events,  she  delayed  from  time  to  time 
having  an  open  explanation,  until  a  most  favorable  oppor- 
tunity presented  itself,  when  Ahasuerus  and  Hamari  were 
seated  at  a  banquet  prepared  for  them  by  her.  The  for- 
mer having  again  urged  her  to  notify  to  him  what  her  re- 
quest was,  and  afresh  renewed  his  assurances  of  readily 
acceding  to  her  wishes, — Esther  proceeded  in  a  few  but 
most  eloquent  words,  to  beseech  him  to  spare  her  life  and 
that  of  her  people.  "  Who,"  exclaimed  the  king  indig- 
nantly,"  is  he  and  where  is  he,  that  durst  presume  in  his 
heart  to  do  so?"  And  Esther  said,  "the  adversary  and 
enemy  is  this  wicked  Haman." 

Haman's  disgrace  and  death  ensued,  M ordecai's  advance- 
ment to  honor  and  office  followed,  but  stiH  the  edict  was 
not  revoked  against  the  Hebrews,  and  the  fatal  day  was 
rapidly  approaching,  when  their  enemies  throughout  the 
empire  might  be  empowered  to  execute  vengeance  on 
them.  Again  Esther  ventured  uncalled  into  the  presence 
of  Ahasuerus,  and  prostrating  herself  at  his  feet,"  besought 
him  with  tears  to  put  away  the  mischief  of  Haman  the 


104    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

Ajjnsrife,  nnd  his  device  that  he  had  devised  against  (he 
Jews."  Once  more- the  golden  sceptre  was  extended  in 

token  of  favor  to  Esther; — and  encouraged  by  this  assur- 
ance she  proceeded  eloquently  to  plead  for  her  people; 
she- concluded  by  s«ying, ."  How  can  I  eiidure  to  see  the 
evil  that  shall  come  unto  my  people?  or  how  can  I  endure 
to  see  the  destruction  of  my  kindred?" 

The  heart  of  Ahasuerus-was  moved  hy  woman  thus  faith- 
fuHfexeicising  her  privileges  as  a  moral  agent, — \\c  could 
not  indeed  hv  the  law  of  his  kingdom,  annul  au  edict  already 
valid!}  promulgated,  hut  hf  could  counteract  its  operation 
by  a  second;  he  gave  therefore  permission  to  his  queen 
and  her  kinsman  to  "  rule  the  Jews"  as  it  pleased  them  in 
his  narnf,  and  to  seal  it  -with  his  signet.  u  Then  the  ci() 
of  S'm-hnn  rejoiced  and  was  glad.  The  jews  had  light, 
nnd  gladnes«,  and  jov,and  honor.  And  in. every  province, 
and  in  every  cilv,  whithersoever  the  knig's  commandment 
and  his  decree  came,  the  Jews  had  joy  and  gladness, — a 
feast  and  a  ^ood  day.  And  many 'of  the  people  of  the  land 
became  Jews,  for  the  fear  of  the  Jews  fell  upon  them.'"' — 
Esther  so'iirhi  to  improve  thi?  deliverance  to  the  spiritual 
good  of  her  people;  she  and  Mordecai  "wrote  with  all 
.authority.'1  commanding  that  an  annual  feast -should  be 
observed  as  a  season  of  rejoicing  for  the  deliverance  vouch- 
safed to  them  bv  God.  "They-call  these  days  Purim." 
The  feast  thus  instituted  has  been  kept  by  the  Jews  from 
that  d;iy  to  t'.ie  present  time,  though  it  has  been  in  late 
ages  sadly  perverted,  and  often  made  the  occasion  of  riot. 
During  its  continuance  the  book  of  Esther  is  publicly 
read,  in  commcmoraiion  of  the  •'signal  services  conferred 
on  the  Hebrews,  through  her  agency;  "  For,"  says  Jose- 
phus,  "  it  was  she  who  saved  our  nation;'1  that  is,  she  was 
the  instrumental  cause  in  the  hands  of  him,  who  while 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINJ-;  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    105 

ordering  each  event  after  his  own  wise  pleasure,  is  yet 
generally  pleased  to  employ  an  intermediate  power  in.  its 
accomplishment. 

Esther  was  prepared  for  the  exercise  of  her  important 
office  by  a  virtuous  and  pious  training;  the  grace  of  God 
apparently  blessed  the  instructions  she  received,  and  ena- 
bled her  to  preserve  her  pious  principles  amidst  the  en- 
snaring temptations  of  a  court  proverbial  for  its  voluptu- 
ousness; she  sanctified  her  influence  by  prayer; — and 
she  designed  doubtless  to  perpetuate  it  by  observances 
which  she  hoped  would  promote  the  improvement  of  her 
people;  so  that  in  every  sce.ne  she  may  be  deservedly  re- 
garded as  an  illustrious  example  of  woman's  moral  agency 
in  a  widely  extended  sphere  of  exertion. 

After  the  Babylonish-  captivity,  tlie  Hebrews  appear 
flot  to  have  again  provoked  the  displeasure  of  God,  by  a 
relapse  into  those  idolatrous  practices  which  had  in  former 
ages  left  such  a  stigma  on  their  national- character.  Yet 
were  they  essentially  a  declining  people,  for  during  their 
long  captivities  and  dispersion  among. various  different  idol- 
atrous and  effeminate  nations,  their  morals  had  become  de- 
based, and  their  frequent  intermarriages  with  the  women  of 
a  false  faith  had  induced  a  great  deterioration  in  their  habits 
and  manners.  Prophecy  was  sealed  to  them;  and  although 
the  law  was  still  ostensibly  preserved,  and  their  ritual 
continued,  yet  did  the  majority  of  the  Hebrews  violate 
the  lawln  their  conduct,  and  made  their  religion 'to  con- 
sist exclusively  in  a  mere  nominal  observance  of  rites  and 
ceremonies, — a  form  of  religion  without  its  life  giving 
power.  The  speculations  of  learned  rabbins,  and  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  elders  concerning  certain  usages  and  rules 
of  practice  averred  to  have  been  given  originally  verbally 
by  Moses,  tame  to  be  received  as  of  equal, — nay,  almost 


100    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

of  paramount  importance  with  the  written  law.  JVIalachi 
was  commanded  by  the  direction  of  God  sternly  to  reprove 
them  for  this  national  defection ;  "Ye  are  departed  out 
of  the  wayf'  said  this  .last  of  the  prophets  before  closing 
liis  commissioned  work,  "ye  have  caused  many  to  stumble 
at  the  law;  ye  have  corrupted  the  covenant  of  the  Lord; 
s-ailh  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  Therefore  have  r  alto  made  you 
contemptible  and  base  before  all  the  people,  according  as 
ye  have  not  kept  my  ways,  but  have  been  partial  in  the 
law." 

"On  the  destruction  of  the  Persian  monarchy  by  thcric- 
torious  am;?  of  Alexander  of  Macedon,  the  Hebrew  com- 
rnonwealih  transferred  its  allegiance  to  liirn  likewise:  and 
on  the  partition  of .  tiler-Macedonian  empire,  which  follow- 
ed his  decease.  Judea  became  alternately  the  tributary  of 
two  of  his  successors; — fu>t.  of  Ptolemy  kiirg  of  Egypt, 
then  of  Antiochus,  king  of  Syria.  .Notwithstanding  the 
declension  in  their  national  morals,  the  Hebrews  had  still 
maintained  so  much  the  superiority  in  this  respect,  over 
the  dissolute  heathen  nations  which  surrounded  them,  as  to 
Imve  comn-.anded  rcspei.t  both,  for  their  character  and  their 
faith;:  mail  Antiochus  Kpiphanes,  king  of  Syria,  less  than 
two  centuries  before  liie  Christian  era  attempted  to  compel 
them  to  submit  to  the  reception  of  Heathen  rites.  Jason, 
a  corrupt  and  most  unworthy  successor  to  the  high  priest- 
hood,-had  wrested  the  office  bv  violence  from  his  brother, 
the  pious  and  beloved  Onias,  and  bribed  Antiochus  in  his 
favor  by  the  gift  of  300  talents,  but  was  in  his  turn  deposed 
by  another  brother,  Mcnelaus,  who  practiced  the  same 
unrighleous-  arts,  that  he  had  formerly  made  use  of 
towards  Onias.  On  a  certain  occasion,  hearing  a  false 
rumor  of  the  death  of  Antiochus,  he  determined  to  take 
advantage  of  the  opportunity,  and  with  the  aid  of  1000  re- 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    107 

tainers,  succeedc.d  in  getting  possession  of  Jerusalem, 
where  he-was  guilty  of  enormous  cruelties,  and'  forced 
Menelaus  to  flee  before  him,  Anliochus  receiving  intelli- 
gence of  this  revolt  in -Egypt,  and  supposing  it  to  have 
originated  in  a  general  conspiracy  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
marched  down  upon  Jerusalem,  and  taking  the  oity'by 
force,  slew  40,000  persons,  and  took  as  many  more  captive, 
whom  lire  sold  into  slavery.  Not  content  with  this  cruel 
revenge,  tie  impiously  profaned  the  holy  temple  at  Jeru- 
salem, -by  the  most  abominable  practices,  and  subsequently 
commenced  and  carried  on,  a  bloody  persecution  against 
the  unhappy  Jews,  in  which  his  sanguinary  temper  was 
exhibited  in  a  most  remarkable  manner.  The  spirit  of 
the  Hebrews  was  roused  from  its  dormant  state;  and  the 
Maccabees,  a  race  of  heroes,  emulating  in  character  their 
countrymen  of  olden  times,/arose  for  the  defence  of  the 
waning  glories  of  Israel.  Mattathias,  the  father  and  head 
of  this  gallant  family,  was  a  Jevyish  priest,  highly  esteem- 
ed for  his  character  and  piety.  When  urged  to  aposta- 
tize by  the  officers  of  Antiochus,  who  promised  to  promote 
him  to  honor  and  riches  if  he  would  renounce  his  faith, — 
Mattathias  strong  in  moral  courage,  resolutely  refused  the 
enticing  offers,  and1  in  the  excess  of  his  indignation  at  the 
sight  of  an  apostate  countryman  sacrificing  upon  the  hea- 
then altar,  fell  upon  him  and  slew  him  for  so  daring  an 
outrage  on  the  majesty  of  God.  He.  then  collected  his 
family  and  followers,  retired  to  the  fastnesses  4ofJudea, 
where  the  Hebrew  females  and  children  cheerfully  endur- 
ed the  same  hardships  arrd  sufferings  as  did  their  husbands 
and  fathers,  in  defence  of  their  faith.  Antiochus,  enraged 
at  the  stern  determination  thus  manifested  by  all  classes 
of  the  nation,  to  "obey  God  rather  than  man,"  went  in 
person  to  Judea,  to  enforce  the  observance  of  his  orders; 


108  WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

and  committed  the  most  shocking  cruellies,  in  the  vain  ex- 
pectation of  terrifying  the  Hebrews  into  conformity  to  his 
profane  determination.  Then  phoenix-like,  the  spirit  of 
the  nation  rose  and  burned  with  a  temporary  but  briHian-t 
lustre.  Women  and  children  courageously  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom; and  on  one  occasion,  as  we  ar.e  informed  in  the 
book  of  Maccabees,  Solornona,  a  Hebrew  mother,  beheld 
her  seven  sons  expire  in  her  presence,  by  varied  but  equally 
cruel  and  heart-rending  deaths,  and  yet  was  enabled  to 
make  the  faith  of  the  believer,  so  far  triumph  over  the 
feelings  of  the  mother,  as  to  continue  to  exhort  her  chil- 
dren to  the  latest  moment,  to  perseverance  and -constancy 
in  their  religious  profession. 

Mattathias  was  a  descendant  of  the  royal  family  cf  Ju- 
dea,  and  the  founder  of  the  Asmonian  dynasty,  which- for 
a  century  preceding  the  birtlrof  Christ,  presented  in  its 
tragic  rolls,  many  female  names,  whose  intellectual  vigor 
and  strong  affections,  enabled  them  to  become  most,  influ- 
ential actors  in  the  history  of  their  country;  although  the 
manifestations  of  character  exhibited  by  them,  were  not  in 
accordance  with  the  class  of  virtues  which  woman,  was 
specially  appointed  to  manifest,  and  which  had  been  so 
beautifully  exhibited  by  many  of  their  countrywomen  un- 
der the  early  and  middle  ages  of  the  commonwealth. 

The  Alexandras  (a  name  which  in  the  Amonean  family, 
became  nearly  synonymous  with  that  of  princess)  were  far 
superior  in  power  and  influence,  to  any  other  females  of 
the  era  in  which  they  flourished;  some  of  them  may  com- 
pete, and  that  not  disadvantageous!)',  for  wisdom  and  vir- 
tue, with  sovereigns  who  in  subsequent  ages  have  been 
nominally  ranked  in  the  list  of  Christian  princes.  Uniting 
in  their  persons,  the  dignities  of  high  priest  and  prince, 
some  of  them  descendants  of  the  gallant  Maccabees,  had 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH     109 

enlarged  the  dominions  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  to 
an  extent  greater  than  had  been  known  since  the  days  of 
David  and  Solomon;  and  with  the  increase  of  territory 
and  power,  they  subsequently  united  that  of  title.  Aris- 
tobulus,  the  son  and  successor  of  John  Hyrcanus,  was  the 
first  who  assumed  the  title  of  king.  The  wife  of  this  fero- 

w 

cious  prince,  Alexandia  the  first,  evinced  prudence  and 
moderation,  in  the  administration  of  public  affairs,  as  well 
as  laudable  magnanimity,  since  she  voluntarily  exerted  all 
the  powerful  influence  she  possessed,  in  releasing  from 
confinement,  and  in  placing  on  the  throne,  Alexander 
Janneuss,  the  brother  of  her  deceased  husband,  who  in  the 
sequel  indeed  sadly  disappointed  her  hopes  and  those  of  the 
nation. 

The  talents  aiul  virtues  of  his  queen,  the  second  Alexan- 
dra, have  been  eulogized"  by  morn  than  one  historian. — 
"  A  woman  she  was,"  observes  the  great  chronicler  of  her 
nation,*  "  who  showed  no  signs  of  the  weakness  of  her  sex; 
for  she  was  sagacious  to  the  greatest  degree,  in  her  ambi- 
tion of  governing,  and  demonstrated  by  her  doings,  that  her 
mind  was  fit  for  action."  By  her  the  Hebrew  nation  was 
preserved  in  peace,  and  she  expired  at  an  anvanced  age, 
and  greatly  beloved  by  her  people  and  respected  by  her 
allies.  She  reluctantly  conceded  power  to  the  turbulent 
and  despotic  sect  of  the  Pharisees,  which  they  were  not 
slow  to  abuse,  but  a  wise  a.nd  sagacious  writer  remarks  in 
her  justification,!  that  she  did  so  from  a  dread  of  involving 
her  subjects  in  a  civil  war,  the  miseries  of  which  she  had 
seen  abundantly  realized  during  the  life  of  her  husband. 

*  Josephus  Jewish  Antiquities.    Book  XIII.     Chapter  XVI.  ' 

t  Prideau*'  Connected  History  of  the  Jews  and  Neighboring  Nations. 
Book  VI. 

10 


110    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  TIIE  COMMONWEALTH, 

The  eventful  history  and  tragical  fate  of  the  third  and 
last  Alexandra, — the  mother  of  the  lovely  JMariamme,  and 
of  her  scarcely  less  beautiful  or  unfortunate  brother  Aris- 
tobulus,  the  last  lineal  male  heir  of  the  Asmonean  dynasty, 
lias  been  perpetuated  by  the  writings  of  more  than  one 
historian  of  the  period  in  which  she  flourished;  but  by  no 
individual  has  her  life  and  character  been  so  graphically 
and  feelingly  sketched,  her  virtues  so  brought  out  into 
relief,  or  the  ambitious  and  turbulent  impulses  of  her  na- 
ture accounted  for,  and  apologized  more  ingeniously,  than 
by  a  popular  female  writer  of  the  present  day.*  But  not- 
withstanding all  the  eloquence  of  her  defenders,  Alexan- 
dra's memory  will  remain  rather  as  a  beacon  to  warn  her 
sex  of  the  dangers  attendant  upon  the  exercise  of  pervert- 
ed and  misguided  influence,  than  as  an  incitement  to  the 
exercise  of  female  virtue. 

We  turn  our  eyes  with  far  more  delight  upon  her  fair 
and  unfortunate  daughter, — "  The  virtuous  and  excellent 
Mariamme,"  observes  Prideaux,  "  who  in  the  beauty  and 
other  charms  and  graces  of  her  person,  excelled  all  the 
women  of  her  time,  and  would  have  been  a  lady  without 
exception^  could  she  have  carried  herself  with  some  better 
temper  and  complaisance  towards  her  husband.  But  con- 
sidering that  he  built  his  fortunes  upon  the  ruin  of  her 
family;  that  he  usurped  from  them  the  crown  which  he 
wore;  that  he  had  caused,  or  procured,  her  father,  her 
grandfather,  her  brother,  and  her  uncle,  to  be  put  to  death 
for  the  serving  of  his  designs,  and  had  twice  ordered  her 
to  be  put  to  death  in  case  of  his  own,  it  would  put  difficul- 
ties upon  the  most  patient  and  best  tempered  woman  in 
the  world,  how  to  bear  such  a  husband  with  affection  or 
complaisance." 

*  Woman  and  Her  Master — by  Lady  Morgan. 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    HI 

The  Asmonean  dynasty  was  waning  rapidly  away — and 
none  remained  to  maintain  its  falling  fortunes  but  the  im- 
becile and  aged  sovereign  'pontiff, — his  ambitious  and  high 
spirited  daughter,  the  princess  Alexandra,  and  her  youth- 
ful children, — when  Herod,  the  son  of  Antipater,  procu- 
rator of  Judea,  made  himself  distinguished  by  his  military 
achievements?,  succeeded  in  ensuring  the  favor  of  the 
Jewish  people,  and  the  patronage  of  Antony  and  Cassius. 
Emboldened  by  success,  Herod  elarged  his  ambitious  de- 
sires, and  aspired  to  succeed  to  the  throne  of  the  Asmo- 
nean  princes.  By  well-timed  golden  offerings,  he  purchas- 
ed the  concurrence  of  the  unprincipled  Antony; — and  by 
rekindling  feelings  of  generosity  and  gratitude  in  Cesar's 
bosom,  he  secured  his  favor,  who  remembered  him  only  as 
the  son  of  his  former  comrade  in  arms,  and  once  hospitable 
host. 

Other  passions,  however,  contended  with  ambition,  for 
supremacy  in  the  death  of  Herod ;  he  beheld  the  young 
and  beautiful  Mariamme,  the  fair  scion  of  the  Asmonean 
family,  and  from  that  moment  he  never  ceased  to  be 
ardently  desirous  to  secure  her  for  himself.  The  connec- 
tion was  considered  a  matter  of  state  policy  by  both  par- 
ties. Alexandra  and  her  father  thought  the  only  means 
which  remained  for  securing  the  tottering  fortunes  of  their 
house,  was  to  place  Mariamme  as  its  representative  on  the 
throne  which  her  family  had  occupied  for  more  than  a  cen- 
tury;— while*  Herod,  aware  of  the  zealous  affection 
of  the  Jews  for  their  hereditary  princes,  hoped  to  conserve 
his  own  interests  as  well  as  to  gratify  his  passions,  by 
blending  them  with  theirs.  Mariamme's  wishes  were  not, 
however,  consulted,  and  when  she  entered  the  palace  ot" 
Jerusalem  as  the  wife  of  Herod,  she  sealed  her  own  tin- 
happiness,  and  furnished  the  first  act  of  a  tragedy  which 


1  12    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  @F  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

has  rarely  been  equalled  in  pathos  or  in  horror  by  any  that 
have  been  exhibited  on  the  stage  of  our  fallen  world. — 
Her  exceeding  personal  charm?,  and  the  halo  with  which 
her  mild  and  gentle  virtues  encircled  her,  enabled  her  to 
maintain  a  most  powerful  and  almost  fascinating  ii  -fluence 
over  the  passions  of  Herod;  while  his  character  and 
crimes, — his  injustice  and  cruelty  towards  the  members 
of  her  house,  and  his  uncontrollable  jealousy  towards  her- 
self, served  to  augment  and  strengthen  a  repugnance  on 
her  part  towards  him,  which  could  never  be  overcome,  or 
even  moderated.  Her  inflexible  coldness  of  manner  irri- 
tated her  husband  almost  to  madness,  but  when  on  the 
point  of  wreaking  vengeance  on  her  (or  her  indifference, 
his  murderous  hand  would  be  stayed  by  his  own  selfish 
passions;  for  so  idolatrous  was  his  attachment  to  her,  that 
he  felt  he  must  be  miserable  without  her.  Thus-  alter- 
nately was  the  heart  and  the  court  of  Herod  rent  by  these 
two  opposing  passions  of  his  nature,  the  result  of  female 
influence,  while  his  talented  but  artful  and  unprincipled 
sister,  Salome,  and  his  mother,  Cyprus,  full  of  envy  and 
cruel  jealousy  of  the  beloved  Mariamme;  and  the  active, 
politic  and  incensed  Alexandra,  each  in  their  turn  added 
additional  weight  to  the  miseries  which  surrounded  the 
guilty  usurper  to  the  throne  of  Judca;  and  hastened  the 
consummation  of  the  awful  tragedy,  the  closing  scene  of 
which  exhibited  Mariamme  led  to  an  ignominious  death, — 
and  Herod  the  victim  of  sorrow,  regret,  nnd  tormenting 
remorse,  which  haunted  him  incessantly  at  the  banquet, 
and  in  the  battle  field,  as  well  as  in  the  silent  watches  of 
the  night.  His  victim  happier  in  death  than  her  tyran 
in  the  pride  of  life,  passed  to  the  place  of  execution  in 
silent  dignity,  which  was  only  ruffled  by  her  unhappy  mo- 
thers unnatural  behaviour;  her  spirit  quailed  not,  nor  did 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    113 

her  cheek  become  blanched  at  the  apprehension  of  death; 
supported  as  we  trust  by  faith  in  the  promises  of  her  God, 
and  sustained  by  his  almighty  arm, "she  died  as  she  lived, 
great,  firm,  and  fearless  to  the  last,"  presenting  in  her 
eventful  life  and  early  death,  a  striking  attestation  to  the 
power  of  the  Hebrew  women  in  the  closing  scenes  of  the 
commonwealth.  She  died  a  victim  to  the  passion  of  mar, 
inflamed  and  maddened  by  artful  and  unprincipled  females. 
But  her  memory  brought  retributive  punishment  to  her 
murderer.  In  the  seasonsof  mental  aberration  consequent 
upon  his  anguish  and  remorse  for  his  wife's  murder,  the 
name  of  Mariamme  would  incessantly  escape  his  lips;  and 
he  would  vehemently  importune  his  servants  to  bring  her 
to  him,  if  she  were  yet  alive.  A  grievous  pestilence  suc- 
ceeded the  death  of  the  Jewish  queen,  and  in  its  ravage?, 
swept  off  numbers  both  of  the  nobility  and  the  lower  ranks 
of  the  Hebrew  nation;  and  so  great  was  the  reverence 
and  affection  in  which  this  last  descendant  of  the  Asmo- 
nean  princes  was  held,  that  the  fatal  epidemic  was  con- 
sidered generally  as  a  judgment- sent  from  God  in  conse- 
quence of  her  death.* 

The  reign  of  Herod  the  Great  was  one  of  the  darkest 
seasons  which  had  yet  occurred  in  Jewish  history;  indeed 
there  was  scarce  ever  a  period  in  the  annals  of  the  world, 
when  wickedness  and  error  more  abounded.  Then  too 
was  witnessed  the  fulfilment  of  that  prophecy  recorded  by 
Moses:  "  The  sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a 
lawgiver  from  between  his  feet,  until  Shiloh  come;"  for 
Herod,  the  usurper  of  the  throne  of  Judea,  was  the  first 
foreigner  that  had  ever  reigned  over  the  Hebrews;  Jose- 
phus  informs  us  that  his  paternal  ancestors  were  Idumean, 

•  Josephua.     Bosk  XV.     Chapter  VII. 
10* 


114    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

and  those  on  the  paternal  side  Arabian.  The  government 
having  devolved  on  one  not  descended  from  the  princely 
lineage  of  Jiidah,  the  expectations  of  the  nation  were 
awakened;  the  most  important  of  the  Hebrew  prophecies 
was  about  to  be  completed,  and  the  types  and  shadows  of 
the  Mosaic  ritual  were  to  give  place  to  glorious  realities 
and  unclouded  vision.  The  fulness  of  time  had  come, 
and  the  old  covenant  was  about  to  be  susperceded  for  a  new 
and  glorious  one. 

The  angel  Gabriel  that  stood  in  the  presence  of  God, 
was  deputed  to  a  glorious  embassy;  he  was  to  notify  to 
the  fallen  children  of  Aadm,  the  immediate  coming  of  the 
long  promised  and  anxiously  expected  Messiah.  But 
whither  did  he  direct  his  course  ?  He  entered  not  the 
palace  of  a  monarchy-addressed  not  his  message  "to  the 
highly  esteemed  among  men; — 'he  went  rather  on  his 
divine  commission  to  an  humble  residence  in  Galilee;  and 
to  a  gentle,  pious,  but  humble  Hebrew  maiden,  was  first 
communicated  an  explicit  and  full  development  of  the 
purposes  of  the  divine  mind.  When  the  anpelic  messen- 
ger appeared  in  her  presence,  and  probably  accompanied 
by  some  manifestation  o(  special  glory,  he  addressed  her  in 
language  never  before  employed  to  one  of  our  fallen  race — 
"Hail,  thou  that  art  highly  favored;  the  Lord  is  with 
thee!"  Mary's  humble  spirit  was  troubled  at  the  style  of 
the  address, — and  the  nature  of  the  communication  made 
to  her;  she  realized  vividly  the  shame,  contumely,  and 
ignominy  she  would  have  to  endure,  the  keenness  of  which 
can  probably  alone  be  fully  appreciated  by  a  delicate  and 
modest  young  female,  whose  spirit  shrinks  from  an  asper- 
sion on  her  fair  name,  far  more  sensitively  than  from  the 
thoughts  of  personal  suffering  or  hardship;  but  strong  in 
faith,  her  gentle  spirit  bowed  meekly  and  adoringly  to  her 


WOMEN  DURING  TIIE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    1 15 

God,  and  unfler  circumstances  of  a  far  more  trying  nature, 
she  evinced  a  piety  more  unwavering  and  docile  than  that 
of  the -aged  and  experienced  Zechariah,— "  Behold,"  she 
exclaimed, "  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord;  be  it  unto  me  ac- 
cording to  thy  word!" 

JSo  greater  honor  or  more  precious  privilege  could  have 
been  conferred  on  a  human  being,  than  was  granted  to 
M^ry  of  Galilee,  when  she  was  permitted  to  receive  into 
her  arms,  and  cherish  in  her  heart,  under  the  endearing 
ties  of  the  maternal  relation,  in  his  human  nature,  u  the 
man  Christ  Jesus," — "the  Alpha  and  Omega;  who  was, 
and  is,  and  is  to  come,  the  Almighty ."  Others  were  bless- 
ed1 who  did  but  touch  the  hem  of  his  garment, — or  receiv- 
ed a  passing  benediction  from  him; — she  was  privileged 
to  fold  him  continually  in  her  arms,  and  to  nourish  his  hu- 
man nature,  with  the  genial  current  that  flowed  from  her 
own  bosom.  She  waked  the  earliest  smile  on  his  lips,  and 
hers  was  probably  the  first  ,name  w-hich  his  infant  lips 
articulated;  while  the  promotion  of  her  comfort  was 
one  of  the  last  thoughts  that  lingered  in  the  bosom,  and 
her  name  one  of  the  latest  soujids  which  issued  from  the 
lips  of  the  dying  Redeemer.  Her  extraordinary  faith  and 
reverential  submission  to  the  divine  will  under  peculiarly 
trying  circumstances,  must  ever  continue  to  exert.a  power- 
ful moral  influence  over  the  minds  of  pious  and  enlighten- 
ed students  of  the  sacred  volume.  Indeed,  on  account  of 
her  intimate  connection  with  the  Saviour,  and  her  pre- 
eminjent  Christian  graces,  the  judgment  of  multitudes  have 
been  so  far  blinded  to  her  true  position  in  the  church  of 
God,  that  they  have  ventured  to  approach  in  idolatrous 
worship,  one,  the  record  of  whom  was  designed  to  furnish 
only  a  beautiful  example  of  personal  piety,  and  a  stimulant 
to  duty. 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    1  16 

Nor  was  Mary  of  Galilee  the  only  representative  of  her 
nation  at  the  period  when  its  glories  were  about  to  be'sus- 
pendecl,  in  n  most  remarkable  manner.  Mary,  the  sister 
of  Lazarus,  became  after  her  conversion  a  most  devoted, 
fervent  and  unwavering  disciple  of  the  Redeemer,  who 
seems  to  have  included  as  an  article  of  his  new  and  better 
covenant,  the  salvation  of  the  daughters  of  his  people,  from 
the  partial  depression  under  which  they  had  so  long  la- 
bored,  and  the  restoration  of  women  to  immunities  and 
privileges  even  more  precious  than  those  they  had  forfeited. 
Mary  Magdalene  too,  was  in  no  wise  inferior  in  faith  and 
glowing  love  to  any  of  the  followers  of  our  Lord  ;  in  com- 
pany with  the  apostles  she  followed  her  beloved  Master 
from  city  to  city;  she  accompanied  him  in  his  last  journey 
from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem ;  she  continued  her  affectionate 
vigils  on  the  Mount  of  Calvary,  fixed  immovably  near  the 
cross  of  her  beloved  Lord.  When  his  body  was  removed 
to  the  tomb,  she  beheld  Ihe  sad  spectacle,  and  seems  only 
to  have  relinquished  her  post  to  discharge  the  holy  duties 
of  the  Sabbath  5n  the  temple.  Her  ardent  and  tender 
heart  waited  not  the  approach  of  dawn  to  return  to  the 
sepulchre  of  her  Redeemer;  but  very  early  in  the  morning 
of"  the  first  day  of  the  week,  came  Mary  Magdalene  while 
it  was  yet  dark  unto  the  sepulchre,1'  accompanied  by  Mary 
the  mother  of  James  and  Salome,  to  perform  the  last  offi- 
ces of  affection  to  her  Master. 

She,  too,  was  the  chosen  witness  of  our  blessed  Lord's 
first  appearance  after  his  resurrection.  A  mysterious 
solemnity  insensibly  attache?  itself  in  our  mind,  to  the  idea, 
of  the  first  exercise  of  its  functions  by  the  recuscitated 
body  of  the  saint;  how  naturally  might  philosophers,  as 
well  as  the  apostles  of  the  Saviour,  have  desired  to  behold, 
in  the  person  of  the  risen  Jesus,  such  a  sight  in  its  complete 


J17    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMON  WEALTH. 

perfection.  They  were,  however,  passed  bv,  and  one 
selected,  adorned  by  "  the  ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet 
spirit,  which  is  in  the  sight  of  God  of  great  price;'1 — one 
who 

"  When  apostles  shrank,  could  dangers  brave, 
Last  at  his  cross  and  earliest  at  his  grave." 

To  console  her  under  sorrow,  those  blessed  lips  so  lately 
sealed  in  the  silence  of  death  were  first  unloosed,  as  if  to 
assure  her  that  thenceforlh  her  sex  was  to  be  invested  with 
new  and  important  sp  ritual  privileges,  and  that  among 
them  thenceforward,  the  Redeemer  would  find  them  dear 
to  him  as  his  mother  and  sisters. 

Mary  was  honored  also  as  the  recipient  of  the  first  com- 
mission delivered  by  the  risen  head  of  the  church,  who 
made  her  an  appointed  medium  of  intercourse  between 
himself  and  his  apostles.  "  Go  ye,"  said  he,  "  to  my 
brethren,,  and  say  to  them,  I  ascend  to  my  Father  and 
your  Father,  and  to  my. God  and  your  God."  Time  would 
fail  me  were  I  to  attempt  to  designate  the  pious  Hebrew 
females  who,  at  the  close  of  the  first  dispensation,  came 
forward  with  ready  zeal  and  affectionate  alacrity,  to  wel- 
come the  rising  glories  of  the  new  and  better  one,  to  which 
the  types  and  figures  of  their  ritual  had  long  pointed,  and 
which  'prophets  and  kings  had  predicted,  and  desired  to 
see,  but  had  only  beheld  by  faith  in  ihe  dim  vista  of  futu- 
rity. Mary  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  Elizabeth,  were  the 
sole  representatives  of  the  ancient  prophetic  band,  whose 
inspired  poetic  songs,  welcomed  the  advent  of  the  Messiah; 
and  the  emphatic  language  employed  by  them  intimates 
that  their  pious  souls  were  filled  with  the  unction  of  the 
spirit,  and  wrapped  in  adoring  views  of  the  divine  perfec- 
tion and  glory.  The  aged  Anna,  whose  holy  life  and  long 


WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH.    118 

and  profound  experience  in  divine  things,  is  especially  no- 
ted by  the  evangelist,  welcomed  the  infant  Saviour  on  his 
presentation  in  the  temple,  and  spake  of  the  nature  and 
design  of  his  mission,  not  only  to  all  the  worshippers  in  the 
temple,  but  as  the  marginal  reading  of  our  version  of  the 
Bible  renders  it — "  to  all  them  that  looked  (or  redemption 
in  Israel.'''  "  So  that,"  observes  a  learned  commentator,* 
"the  expression  would  intimate  that  this  excellent  woman 
travelled  over  the  land  of  Israel,'  proclaiming  the  advent  of 
Christ.  At  all  events,  it  appears  that  tin—  widow  was  one 
of  the  first  publishers  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  it  is 
likely  that  she  travelled  with  it  from  house  to  house. 
through  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  where  she  knew  the}'  dwelt 
who  were  expecting  the  salvation  of  God.'' 

When  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  through  toil  and  in 
poverty,  was  proceedingon  his  divine  mission  4i  throughout 
every  city  and  village,  preaching  and  shewing  the  glad 
tidings  of  the  kingdom  of  God,"  accompanied  by  his  twelve 
apostles,  then  did  Mary  Magdalen,  "  and  Joannn,  the  wife 
of  Chuza,  Herod's  .steward,  and  Susanna,  and  many  others, 
minister  unto  himcf  their  substance/'  Female  hearts 
were  the  fountain, — female  hands  the  instruments  selected 
by  God  for  this  holy  agency,  so  essential  in  the  furtherance 
of  the  Gospel  economy;  for  our  blessed  Lord  scrupulously 
abstained  from  miraculously  relieving  his  own  bodily  ne- 
cessities. 

The  voices  of  the  female  disciples,  are  especially  rioted 
as  having  been  blended  in  those  fervent  effectual  religious 
exercises  of  the  infant  church  of  Jerusalem,  in  the  retired 
upper  chamber,  where  it  was  wont  to  assemble,  to  which 
it  appears  to  have  been  referrable,  as  far  as  human  agency 

*  Dr.  Adam  Clarke. 


119    WOMEN  DURING  THE  DECLINE  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH, 

was  concerned,  the  glorious  effusion  of  the  spirit  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost. 

It  was  Mary,  the  mother  of  Mark,  who  fearlessly  open- 
ed her  doors  to  receive  the  hand  of  Christian  disciples  who 
desired  to  unite  in  supplication  for  the  release  of  the 
imprisoned  Peter.  Eunice  and  Lois,  in  later  years,  in  the 
land  of  tjieir  exile,  preserved  the  spirit  which  characteriz- 
ed the  pious  females  of  their  nation,  and  to  the  blessing  of 
God  on  their  sanctified  exertion,  St.  Paul  seems  to  ascribe 
much  of  the  excellence  which  characterized  their  beloved 
offspring, — the  first  Bishop  of  Ephesus. 

I  have  now  attempted  to  sketch  woman's  position 
under  the  various  stages  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth, 
and  ha-ve  entered  more  into  detail  from  the  desire  to 
illustrate  the  intimate  connection  which  existed  between 
the  Hebrew  females,  and  the  moral  character  which  their 
country  sustained,  compared  with  cotemporary  nations. 
The  subject  will  be  made  clearer  by  glancing  at  the  con- 
dition of  their  sex  in  other  countries,  where  the  systems 
of  morals  were  framed  by  human  policy,  and  adapted  to  the 
taste  of  man's  fallen  nature.  The  truth  will  thus  I  trust  be 
made  more  fully  manifest,  that  no  other  sure  basis  can  be 
found  on  which  to  erect  the  superstructure  of  elevated  fe- 
male character,  than  sound,  enlightened  religious  princi- 
ples. The  attentive  perusal  of  the  records  of  other  nations, 
and  accompanied  with  judicious  reflection,  may  thus  ena- 
ble the  women  of  this  country  to  realize  the  responsibility 
resting  upon  them; — that  of  having  "a  nation's  moral 
wealth  in  their  keeping." 


CHAPTER     VI. 

NATIONS    OF    ANTIQUITY. 

To  a  pious,  intelligent  and  reflecting  mind,  there  is  an 
exceeding  sublimity  perceptible  in  the  condensed  but  cha- 
racteristic sketches  of  1  he  leading  consecutive  events  in  the 
history  of  this  world,  which  are  occasionally  presented  to 
us  in  Scripture,  when  the  Almighty,  in  the  development 
of  his  far-reaching  providential  designs  towards  his  fallen 
creatures,  has  seen  fit  from  time  to  time,  to  reveal  the 
secret  counsels  of  his  omniscient  mind,  and  to  make  known 
to  the  sons  of  men  by  the  spirit  of  prophesy,  the  secrets  of 
future  ages,  which  to  the  unassisted  discernment  of  the 
most  exalted  finite  intellect,  are  shrouded  in  obscurity,  and 
at  best  only  shadowed  forth  in  dim  perspective  through 
the  vista  of  coming  time. 

Among  the  most  striking  of  these  prophetic  epitomes 
are  those  recorded  in  the  second  and  seventh  chapters  of 
Daniel.  That  contained  in  the  former  describes  the  mani- 
festation made  to  Nebuchadnezzar,  to  whom  the  God  of 
heaven  for  some  wise  purposes,  saw  fit,  in  the  visions  of 
his  head  upon  his  bed,  "  by  which  his  spirit  was  troubled, 
and  his  sleep  brake  from  him,"  to  spiead  out  a  tableau  of 
the  history  of  future  generations,  "from  the  era  of  the 
Babylonish  captivity  to  that  of  the  millenium."*  That  em- 
bodied in  the  latter,  unfolded  to  the. prophet  Daniel  sub- 

*  Faber  on  Prophecy. 


NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY.  121 

stantially  the  same  great  truths,  though  the  representation 
was  essentially  different.  To  the  ambitious  mind  of  Ne- 
buchadnezzar, who  was  disposed  to  seek  his  happiness  in 
external  things,  and  who  was  therefore  prone  to  receive 
impressions  through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  the  secret 
transactions  of  subsequent  ages,  were  exhibited  under  the 
form  of  a  magnificent  pageant,  "  whose  brightness  was  ex- 
cellent, and  the  form  thereof  terrible;"  while  to  the  vision 
of  him  whose  eyes  had  been  spiritually  enlightened  to  dis- 
cern the  realities  of  truth,  similar  information  was  convey-^ 
ed  under  another  very  characteristic  manifestation; — the 
earth  with  its  various  generations  of  active,  turbulent  and 
sinful  creatures,  intent  chiefly  on  self  aggrandizement,  and 
desirous  of  vain  glory,  was  fitly  represented  by  a  great 
sea,  moved  to  commotion  by  the  contending  elements,  on 
whose  restless  and  troubled  waters,  the  four  great  monar- 
chies that  were  to  convulse  mankind  in  their  progressive 
histories,  were  typically  shadowed  forth,  under  the  images 
of  fierce  and  devouring  beasts  in  panoramic  review. 
These  empires  were, 

I.  The  Chaldean,  called  the  Assyrian  in  its  commence* 
ment,  the  Chaldean  from  the  land  in  which  the  govern- 
ment was  subsequently  located,  and  the  Babylonian  from 
the  name  of  the  great  metropolis. 

II.  The  Medo-Persian,  commenced  under  Cyarases  II., 
(or  Darius,  the  Mede,)  and  his  nephew  and  son-in-law  Cy- 
rus, and  ended  under  Darius  Codomanus,  whom  Alexander 
of  Macedon  overthrew  at  Arbela,  and  thus  terminated  the 
Persian  monarchy. 

III.  The  Macedonian  or  Greek  empire,   which  was 
founded  by  Alexander  the  Great,  and  extended  by  him 
over  the  ruins  of  the  Persian  and  Babylonian,  so  that  it  lite- 
rally "  had  rule  over  all  the  earth."      Subsequently  this 

11 


122  NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY. 

mighty  power  was  subdivided  under  the  our  favorite 
generals  of  the  Macedonian  .prince,  and  from  their  ruins 
fragments  were  gathered,  which  served  as  materials  on 
which  was  reared  the  last  of  the  vast  empires,  viz: 

1Y.  The  Roman  Empire,  which  by  its  extensive  con- 
quests amalgamated  into  one  great  mass,  the  various  na- 
tion? which  antecedent  to  its  commencement  had  agitated 
the  troubled  surface  of  human  society. 

In  respect  to  the  condition  of  the  nations  composing  the 
irst  of  these  mighty  empires,  which  flourished  and  passed 
away  into  obscnrity,  and  over  whose  proudest  architectu- 
ral monuments  great  obscurity  rests,  the  few  scattered 
fragments  of  their  history  which  have  survived  lo  the  pre- 
sent age,  are  of  too  vague  and  unsatisfactory  a  kind,  to 
permit  us  to  determine  as  to  their  domestic  and  social  in- 
stitutions. Among  the  earliest  records  of  oriental  nations, 
which  have  reached  us,  we  find  the  memorials  of  the  fa- 
mous Semiramis,  queen  of  Assyria;  but  so  much  that  is 
evidently  fabulous  is  associated  with  the  traditions  re- 
specting her,  and  the  circumstances  in  which  she  is  repre- 
sented as  having  been  placed,  are  so  unique  in  their  na- 
ture, that  I  apprehend  her  true  history,  ii  it  could  be  sub- 
stantiated, would  afford  no  just  criteria  by  which  to 
estimate  woman's  position  under  the  most  ancient  mon- 
archy in  the  world. 

The  Persian  females  of  antiquity,  as  far  as  information 
can  be  gleaned  respecting  them  from  the  annals  of  ancient 
classic  writers,  appear  to  have  occupied  very  nearly  the 
same  relative  position  in  society,  as  the  sex  maintain  among 
oriental  nations  of  the  present  day.  Polygamy  reigned 
unrestrained  among  them;  and  wherever  that  has  been 
established,  without  any  such  moral  and  political  correc- 
tives as  was  secured  under  the  theocracy  of  the  Hebrews, 


NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY.  123 

an  incubus  of  a  most  appalling  kind  has  ever  rested  on 
the  social  and  political  institutions  of  all  the  countries  in 
which  the  practice  has  obtained. 

It  has  formed,  as  it  were,  a  strong  line  of  demarcation, — 
a  wall  of  division  between  the  nations  of  the  east  and  west; 
and  as  at  the  present  moment  no  country  in  which  this 
demoralizing  and  deterioratingstateof  things  is  observable, 
enjoys  a  free,  constitution  of  government;  or  permits  un- 
restrained e«xercise  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  powers  of 
its  inhabitants;  or  ennobling  social  privileges  to  the  female 
sex;  so  is  it  rational  to  suppose  that  under  similarity  of 
circumstances  in  the  oriental  nations  of -antiquity,  like 
causes  would  necessarily  produce  like  effects.  The  most 
intelligent  modern  traveller  through  the  different  countries 
of  the  east,  represents  many  of  the  customs,  habits,  and 
manners  which  prevail  among  these  nations  in  the  19th 
eentury,  as  almost  synonymous  with  those  which  sacred 
and  profane  historians  described  as  existing  among  them 
2000  years  since.  Humanity  in  the  east  in  judgment  for 
a  violation  of  a  precept  of  the  mctfal  law,  imprinted  on  the 
tablet  of  conscience,  has  been,  Prometheus-like,  chained 
to  a  rock,  as  adamantine  as  that  of  Caucasus,  while  society 
has  been  secretly  corroded  and  its  healthful  vitality  con- 
tinually undermined  by  the  consuming  fire  of  a  retribu- 
tive avenger. 

To  the  reasons  now  specified  I  shall  not  detain  my 
readers,  by  speculations  on  the  position  or  influence  of 
females  under  the  first  two  great  empires  of  antiquity,  as 
all  the  inferences  necessary  to  our  purpose  which  might 
be  drawn  from  the  scanty  materials  remaining  of  their 
early  history  will  be  necessarily  included  in  the  brief  no- 
tice which  I  propose  to  give  of  the  oriental  modern  nations, 
whose  manners  and  habits  in  respect  to  females,  as  I  before 


124  NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY. 

remarked,  are  substantially  the  same  at  the  present  mo- 
ment, as  they  were  2000  years  since. 

While  the  east  and  west  were  separated  by  a  line  of 
demarcation,  artificially  drawn  by  the  hand  of  maivs  cor- 
rupt nature,  the  nations  of  the  northern  and  southern  sec- 
tions of  the  west,  were  disjoined  in  interests,  and  materially 
affected  in  their  social  and  political  relations  by  a  natural 
barrier,  as  immovably  fixed  in  the  natural  strata  of  the 
earth,  as  was  polygamy  in  the  evil  passions  of  man.  I  now 
allude  to  the  unaltered  Alpine  range,  which  extends 
through  Europe  principally  from  east  to  west.  While  the 
Celtic  races  on  the  northern  side  of  the  snow-clad  Alps, 
were  living  in  primitive  simplicity,*  the  free  denizens  of 
the  forests,  unlettered  and  uncivilized,  and  with  no  canopy 
above  them  save  the  cove  ring  of  their  rude  tents,  or  the  azure 

O  * 

arch  of  heaven :  the  southern  declivities  were  crowned  with 
cities  and  villages,  whose  inhabitants  were  in  their  physi- 
cal, political  and  moral  condition,  on  a  footing  entirely  and 
essentially  different  from  their  northern  neighbors.  At 
the  time  when  the  history  of  Rome  was  far  advanced,  and 
she  numbered  in  her  extended  dominions  the  fairest  por- 
tions of  the  earth  and  the  most  civilized  nations;  when 
her  subjects  were  living  in  wealth  and  luxury;  while  her 
laws  and  manners  had  advanced  her  to  a  station  of  such 
eminence  among  the  cotemporary  nations,  that  the  greatest 
monarchs  of  the  east  were  ambitious  of  obtaining  her 
friendship,  while  those  less  eminent  were  grateful  for  be- 
ing admitted  as  her  tributaries;  then  were  the  countries 
of  Germany  and  others  peopled  by  races  of  kindred  origin 
north  of  the  Alps,  in  a  condition  parallel  with  that  of  the 
aboriginal  inhabitants  of  our  western  forests,  while  their 

*  Niebuhr's  Rome.     Vol.  II — «  On  the  Gauls  and  their  immigration 
into  Italy." 


NATIONS  OF  ANTIQUITY.  125 

wild  and  uncultivated  lands,  scarce  repaid  the  victorious 
Roman  generals  for  the  toils  of  conquest.* 

Upon  the  history  of  races  so  barbarous,  it  would  then,  be 
needless  for  me  to  linger,  since  the  position  they  occupied 
in  the  scale  of  nations  was  but  a  counterpart  to  that  of  the 
semi-civilized  tribes  of  our  own  era,  respecting  whom  I 
propose  making,  en  passant,  a  few  brief  remarks. 

For  a  correct  investigation  of  the  condition  of  the  women 
of  antique  nations,  it  will  then  be  merely  necessary  to  exam- 
ine the  records  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  empires  in  those 
lands  where  civilization  was  so  far  in  advance  of  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe,  where  many  of  the  traits  which  were  de- 
veloped of  private  and  national  character,  were  of  a  kind  to 
excite  feelings  of  admiration  and  esteem,  which  no  other 
unchristianized  races  in  the  records  of  history  are  able  to 
elicit  from  us. 

*  Information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  northern  nations  of  that  era 
will  be  more  satisfactorily  obtained  by  the  perusal  "  of  considerations 
on  the  habits  and  manners  of  the  German  nation,"  by  Gacilus.  The 
similarity  in  many  of  their  customs  and  manners  to  those  of  the  North 
American  Indians,  is  very  striking,  and  indicates  strongly  their  rude  and 
uncivilised  state. 


CHAPTER      VII. 

WOMEN    OF    THE    ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

Obscurity  rests  upon  the  primitive  times  of  ancient 
Greece,  though  in  the  providential  designs  of  God,  the 
empire  subsequently  founded  on  her  classic  shores,  was 
destined  to  have  "  rule  over  all  the  earth."  While  her 
early  rise  and  progress  is  impenetrable  to  the  researches 
of  the  learned,  and  tradition  has  ventured  to  ascribe  her 
gigantic  ruins  to  an  ancient  race,  whose  extraordinary 
deeds  are  memorialized  by  legends  evidently  associated 
with  much  thai  is  superhuman  and  fabulous,  her  first  ap- 
pearance on  "the  great  sea''  of  this  troubled  ^orld  was 
carefully  marked  and  registered  by  the  Ruler  of  the  na- 
tions. 

At  a  very  remote  period,  little  subsequent  to  the  exodus 
of  the  children  of  Israel,  the  country  of  Greece,  small  in 
extent,  but  highly  gifted  by  natural  advantages  of  climate 
and  position,  was  peopled  by  tribes  manifesting  a  degree 
of  civilization  and  refinement,  far  exceeding  that  of  the 
surrounding  nations;  from  whom  sprang  the  gifted  heroic 
race  whose  achievements  have  furnished  abundant  materi- 
als for  the  exercise  of  the  imaginative  powers  of  poets,  and 
painters,  and  sculptors,  in  subsequent  age?. 

There  were  several  distinct  tribes  or  branches  of  the 
Greek  nation.  Prior  to  the  Trojan  war,  the  Achaean  race 
was  so  supreme  in  its  power,  that  its  name  has  been  ap- 
plied as  the  appellation  of  the  heroic  age.  The  Doric 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ANCIENT  GREEKS.  127 

Ionic,  and  Eolian  races  subsequently  divided  classicGreece; 
each  distinguished  by  characteristic  traits  of  dialect,  hab- 
its and  manners.  Thus  the  Doric  was  remarkable  for  the 
tone  of  severity  and  primitive  simplicity,  imprinted  on  its 
dialect,  style  of  living,  songs  arid  architecture;  while  the 
Ionic  was  characterized  by  vivacity,  excitability,  and  fond- 
ness for  novelty;  the  latter  race,  was  easily  induced  by  the 
prospect  of  physical  enjoyment  to  make  important  changes 
in  social  and  political  institution?,  while  the  former  retain- 
ed a  strong  attachment  to  ancient  usages.  Of  the  Ionic 
race,  Athena  was  the  head  and  representative,  while  the 
Dorians,  which  for  ages  maintined  the  supremacy  of  the 
Peloponesus,  was  accustomed  to  recognize  for  a  long  pe- 
riod, its  most  powerful  political  body,  in  Laconia,  of  which 
Sparta  was  the  capital. 

The  peculiarities  in  the  idiosyncracies  of  these  two  im- 
portant branches  of  the  Greek  nation,  were  perpetually 
developed  in  the  progress  of  the  contending  powers  of 
Athens  and  Sparta;  and  indeed  the  whole  history  of  Greece 
for  centuries,  was  colored  by  their  mutual  animosities  and 
fierce  rivalries.  Notwithstanding  these  essential  diversi- 
ties continued  to  characterize  the  Doric  and  Ionian  races, 
they  retained  certain  indissoluble  bonds  of  union.  Though 
divided  at  home,  and  dispersed  widely  in  other  countries, 
yet  during  the  most  prosperous  ages  of  their  national  ex- 
istence, as  well  as  in  the  dark  hour  of  adversity,  when  me- 
naced by  invasion  from  a  foreign  foe,  did  the  different 
Greek  races  continue  tenaciously  to  regard  themselves 
as  constituting  collectively,  the  sole  civilized  portion  of 
humanity;  the  inhabitants  of  all  other-  lands  being  pro- 
miscuously amalgamated  by  them  under  one  generic  ap- 
pellation of  barbarians. 

The  bond  of  national  union  was  provided  bj  a  com- 


128  WOMEN   OF   THE    ANCIENT  GREEKS. 

mon  harmonious  language,  modified  under  different 
dialects,  by  their  religion,  and  by  certain  peculiar  social 
institutions  which  were  universal  among  all  the  races  of 
Hellenic  origin.  "  Unlike  the  religion  of  the  East,  that 
of  the  Hellenes  was  supported  by  no  sacred  books,  was 
connected  with  no  peculiar  doctrines;  it  could  not,  there- 
fore, serve  like  the  former,  to  unite  a  nation  by  means  of 
a  common  creed;  but  it  was  fitted,  for  gaining  that  end,  in 
so  far  as  the  external  rites  of  religion  afforded  opportuni- 
ties."* 

The  Greeks  never  recognized  a  distinct  sacerdotal  order; 
the  princes  and  fathers  of  families  were  the  priests  of  the 
nation.  Unlike  the  oriental  races,  they  discarded  sym- 
bolic representations,  and  their  theory  included  only  such 
divinities  as  were  represented  as  being  the  possessors  of  a 
moral  nature  similar  to  that  of  man;  manifesting  the  same 
defects  of  moral  constitution  and  scarcely  his  superiors  in 
virtue.  "  The  Gods  were  believed  by  them  to  be  gratifi- 
ed with  the  same  pleasures  as  mortals;  their  delights  were 
the  same;  the  gifts  which  were  offered  to  them  were  the 
same  which  please  men ; — there  was  a  common,  a  corres- 
pondent enjoyment." 

The  shrines  of  Delphi,  Olympia,  and  Delos,  were  na- 
tional temples,  and  were  highly  influential  in  maintaining 
the  bonds  of  sympathy  among  the  Hellenic  tribes;  they 
formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  religion  and  politics 
of  the  nation.  The  Greeks  were  accustomed  to  celebrate 
various  public  festivals  in  honor  of  their  deities,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  fanes  consecrated  to  their  respective  wor- 
ship. In  the  Olympic,  Pythian,  Delphic,  and  other  games 
exhibited  on  such  occasions,  contests  of  different  kinds 

*  Heeren'a  Politics  of  Ancient  Greece.    Chap.  VII. 


WOMEN    OF    THE    ANCIENT     GREEKS.  129 

were  permitted  and  adopted.  Running,  leaping,  wrest- 
ling, boxing,  and  other  athletic  feats  were  practiced.  In 
addition  to  the  gymnastic  exercises,  chariot  and  horse  ra- 
ces were  introduced,  and  competitors  in  music,  poetry, 
rhetoric  and  other  intellectual  pursuits,  contended  with 
equal  ardor  for  the  prizes  awarded  to  tliose  most  distin- 
guished in  these  respective  branches  of  scientHic  exertion. 

No  higher  honor  could  be  conceived  by  the  Grecians, 
than  that  which  accrued  to  the  conquerors  in  these  games, 
who  were  not  only  received  with  eclat  in  Olympia,  where 
statutes  were  erected  to  them  in  the  sacred  wood  of  Jupi- 
ter, but  their  victories  were  respectively  considered  as 
those  of  their  native  towns,  to  which  they  returned  in  the 
guise  of  conquerors,  drawn  in  chariots  by  four  horses,  and 
were  every  where  received  with  the  greatest  acclamations. 
The  importance  attached  to  the  intellectual  contests,  ap- 
peared to  be  considered  generally  less  than  that  arising 
from  the  gymnastic  exercises.  To  a  considerable  degree 
the  standard  of  excellence  according  to  which  public  opin- 
ion determines  authoritatively  on  the  character  of  indi- 
viduals, was  graduated  in  conformity  to  their  ideas  of 
merit  or  demerit,  derived  from  the  associations  connected 
with  these  national  games;  so  that  the  qualities  necessary 
to  insure  success,  came  to  be  considered  most  deserving 
of  honor,  and  those  entailing  discomfiture,  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  ignominious  and  contemptible. 

In  a  country  where  such  defective  conceptions  obtained 
as  to  the  true  religion,  and  where  institutions  sanctioned 
by  popular  polytheism,  were  instrumental  in  establishing 
a  system  of  morals  entirely  diverse  in  its  features  from  that 
divine  institution,  and  where  the  graces  of  character  highly 
esteemed  by  the  Almighty  were  viewed  as  contemptible, 
and  as  proofs  of  effeminacy  and  mental  inferiority,  it  could 


130  WOMEN   OF    THE     ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

scarcely  be  expected  that  the  two  sexes  could  stand  in  the 
same  relation  to  each  other,  even  among  the  polished  and 
civilized  Greeks,  (who  proudly  boasted  their  supremacy 
over  other  heathen  nations  of  antiquity,)  as  the  Almighty 
especially  designed  them  to  occupy;  which  they  sustain 
in  Christianized  countries  of  the  present  day. 

Polygamy  indeed  was  not  directly -sanctioned,  for  tradi- 
tion informs  us  that  Cccrops.  among  his  other  attempts  to 
soften  and  polish  the  rude  and  uncultivated  aboriginal  in- 
habi'ants  of  Atlirav  had  established  regular  marriages; 
yet  were  (he  sanctities  of  that  institution  very  imperfectly 
observed  in  the  brightest  period  of  Grecian  morality,  while 
in  ordinary  times  they  were  often  most  grossly  violated. 
Although  the  Spartans  or  Athenians  did  not  imprison  mul- 
titudes of  female  victims  in  harems,  like  their  Asiatic  co- 
temporaries  even  among  the  Israelites,  yet  did  they  never 
award  to  any  individuals  of  the  sex,  that  reverence  and 
respectful  homage  as  beings  of  a  higher  order  of  virtue; 
which  Deborah,  Hannah  and  Huldah,  the  Maries  or  Anna 
received  among  the  Hebrews. 

The  Achsean,  or  heroic  age,  is  the  earliest  period  of 
Grecian  history  of  which  we  are  able  to  glean  any  satis- 
factory information  as  to  habits  and  manners;  and  on  these 
points  Homer,  by  concurrent  public  opinion,  is  our  most 
authentic  guide.  During  the  Achaean  domination,  from 
about  the  thirteenth  to  the  eleventh  B.  C.,  Greece  num- 
bered many  cities,  and  its  verdant  landscapes  were  adorn- 
ed and  enriched  by  the  labors  of  the  agriculturalist.  In 
the  glowing  account  given  in  the  eighteenth  Book  of  Iliad 
of  the  chefcCcEU-cre  of  Vulcan — the  noble  shield  of  Achilles 
— we  have  in  the  ornamental  devices  with  which  "  the 
fathers  of  the  fires  emblazed  the  field,"  a  graphic  symbolic 
representation  of  the  various  labors  of  rural  life,  as  known 


WOMEN    OF   THE    ANCIENT   GREEKS.  131 

among  the  Grecians  oflhat  period;  so  in  the  elaborate  de- 
scriptions of  the  several  palaces  of  Menelaus,  Ulysses  and 
Alcinous,  we  have  striking  and  correct  illustrations  of  the 
style  of  architecture  then  most  esteemed  in  Greece.  If  on 
such  points  the  Homeric  account  is  unhesitatingly  receiv- 
ed as  a  fair  criterion  of  manners,  and  of  the  state  of  the 
arts,  we  may  without  hesitation  consult  the  same  authority 
in  order  to  obtain  data  sufficient  to  guide  us  in  forming 
our  opinion  of  the  position  of  the  female  sex  p.mong  the 
different  branches  of  the, Hellenic  nation,  during  a  period 
when,  by  their  own  account?,  they  possessed  a  far  higher 
degree  of  civilization  than  had  ever  been  previously  enjoy- 
ed by  them. 

The  character  of  Andromache  and  Penolepe,  may  then 
be  assumed  as  specimens  of  the  highest  style  of  feminine 
virtue,  recognized  in  the  days  of  Homer,  fora  writer  such 
as  he,  who,  according  to  the  judgment  of  a  deep  and  en- 
lightened thinker,*  approached  nearer  to  the  grandeur  of 
revelation  than  all  other  Heathen  poets,  would  be  likely, 
in  his  conceptions  of  truth  and  beauty,  to  transcend,  rather 
than  descend,  below  the  standard  admitted  by  ordinary 
minds;  if  neither  the  virtuous  and  famed  Penelope,  nor 
the  affectionate,  devoted,  and  almost  sublime  Andromache 
are  represented  as  capable  of  exercising  any  powerful 
moral  agencv  over  the  nations  of  which  they  were  respec- 
tively the  ornaments.  The  Trojan  princess,  on  the  two 
occasions  in  which  she  is  presented  in  full  portraiture  be- 
fore us,  excites  the  tenderest  sympathies  m  our  nature,  and 
few  hearts  can  contemplate  her,  either  under  the  pressure 
of  anticipated  bereavement,  or  while  agonized  under  its 
actual  infliction,  without  awarding  to  her  sorrow  and  tri- 

*  Rev.  R.  Cecil 


132  WOMEN    OF    THE     ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

bute  of  tears.  But  even  she  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
by  her  lord,  notwithstanding, 

"  her  virtue  charmed  him,  as  her  beauty  fir'd, — 

rather  as  belonging  to  a  superior  order  of  house-wives, 
than  as  an  influential  companion  or  moral  directress. — 
Even  while  listening  to  her  pathetic,  intelligent  and  most 
eloquent  appeal,  and  when  about,  as  he  anticipated,  to 
part  from  her  forever,  with  the  cheerless  and  paralyzing 
expectation  of  being  "  wrapped  in  everlasting  sleep,"  yet 
even  then  he  closes  the  lasl  interview  with  an  exhortation 
which  in  a  brief  compass  conveys  a  forciclc  illustration  by 
the  pen  of  Homer,  of  the  tone  of  public  sentiment  among 
the  Greeks  towards  the  most  virtuous  of  the  sex: — 

"  No  more — but  hasten  to  thy  (asks  at  home, 
Then  guide  the  spindle,  nnd  direct  the  loom; 
Me — glory  summons  to  the  martial  scene, 
The  field  of  combat,  is  the  sphere  for  men." 

The  virtuous  portion  of  the  Grecian  females  were 
through  far  later  times  subjected  to  very  strict  discipline, 
and  the  apartments  to  which  they  were  closely  restricted, 
were  guarded  generally  with  extieme  vigilance,  detached 
from  those  of  the  men,  and  in  every  respect  less  attractive; 
one  of  their  wisest  historians*  remarked,  that  she  was  the 
best  woman  of  whom  the  least  could  be  said,  either  in  dis- 
paragement or  commendation. 

Immured  in  their  private  suite  of  apartments  during  the 
early  ages,  the  lives  of  the  females  of  rank  were  spent  in 
the  same  monotonous  tasks  of  spinning,  weaving,  and  em- 
broidering, as  that  of  the  poor  menial  by  their  side;  the 
Jewish  women  were  engaged  indeed  in  the  same  avoca- 

*  Heeren'ftPolitics  of  Ancient  Greece. 


WOMEN    OF    THE    ANCIENT   GREEKS. 

cations,  and  so  may  be  the  favored  daughters  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  hut  both  the  latter  were  furnished  with  a  reli- 
gion of  motives  which  could  ennoble  anti  sanctify  the  most 
ignoble  employment. 

As  luxury  increased,  the  Grecian  wives  and  mothers  of 
the  free  and  heroic  Greeks  were  permitted  to  vary  the 
routine  of  daily  employments  by  occupations  more  exciting 
and  ensnaring,  but  far  less  honorable;  the  arrangement  of 
their  jewels,  and  the  elaborate  decoration  of  their  beauti- 
ful forms,  occupied  the  hours  which  were  once  devoted  to 
domestic  economy,  but  a  stern  proscription  was  laid  on  the 
exercise  of  their  intellectual  powers  or  the  extension  of 
their  moral  influence. 

A  poet  had  "  formed  the  character  of  the  Greek  peo- 
ple,"* and  their  lives  were  manifestations  of  the  strongest 
passions  of  our  nature;  characterized  by  acute  constitn- 
tiopal  sensibility,  they  were  addicted  far  less  to  des[)o.(i?m 
or  to-a  systematic  prevalence  of  rapine  and .cruelu,  than 
were  the  oriental  nations  of  antiquity,  or  the  sterner  race 
of  Rome;  they  had  deified  the  female  nature  by  introdu- 
cing it  into  their  mythology,  arid  in  Minerva,  Psyc'u-,  Ceres 
and  other  divinities,  appear  to  have  rendered  a  tacit  hom- 
age to  the  capabilities  of  woman;  the  priestesses  of  the 
sacred  shrines  were  the  oracular  organs  of  prophecy,  and 
yet  the  philosophers  and  legislators,  the  historians  and  the 
gifted  poets  of  Greece,  generally  speaking,  appear  to  have 
had  a  superstitious  dread  of  cultivating  the  intellectual 
powers  of  the  virtuous  portion  of  their  female  population, 
as  if  knowledge  would  have  proved  only  an  incentive  to 
depart  from  duty,  or  a  stimulant  to  encourage  an  inordi- 
nate desire  for  admiration. 

*  Thucydides. 

12 


134  WOMEN   OF   THE   ANCIENT   CHEEKS. 

Helen,  in  her  parting  address  to  Hector,  declares  that 
it  was  she,  the  "  guilty  dame,"  that  had  caused  the  griev- 
ous woes  incident  to  the  ten  tedious  years  of  Ilion's  bloody 
Avar, — and  in  her  history  we  read  no  solitary  example  of 
the  power  of  perverted  female  influence  among  the  Gre- 
cian women. 

While  the  moral  and  discreet,  but  uneducated  wrives 
and  mothers  of  this  land  of  classic  refinement,  were  re- 
stricted to  their  own  apartments,  and  seldom  visited  by 
their  husbands,  except  as  a  courtesy;  while  the  hours  to 
them  slowly  waned  away,  unenlivened  by  literary  employ- 
ment, intelligent  conversation,  or  improving  reflection; 
there  was  another  class  of  women  in  Greece,  who,  gifted 
by  nature  with  extraordinary  personal  charms,  and  mental 
superiority,  embellished  by  the  fervid  imagination  and 
lively  fancy  for  which  their  countrymen  were  characteri- 
zed by  the  very  circumstances  of  their  social  and  moral 
degradation  eluded  the  ban  imposed  on  their  sex  by  legis- 
lators and  philosophers,  and  laying  aside  the  proprieties 
and  decencies  of  the  female  character,  were  content  to 
sacrifice  virtue  and  unblemished  fame,  in  order  to  enjoy 
privileges  and  immunities  denied  to  the  virtuous  of  their 
sex.  "  Chartered  libertines,''  observes  a  late  writer,  "  of 
their  minds  as  of  their  actions,  they  were  left  free  to  pur- 
sue the  bent  of  their  natural  talents,  to  sip  at  the  fountain 
of  every  science,  to  cull  the  flowers  of  rhetoric,  to  rifle  the 
whole  hive  of  knowledge,  and  to  possess  themselves  of  the 
treasures  of  philosophy.'** 

Solon  had  enacted  that  no  wife  or  mother  of  Athens 
should  leave  home  with  more  than  three  garments, — or 
appear  in  court  without  her  guardian, — or  attend  the 

*  "  Women  and  her  Master."  By  Lady  Morgan.  Book  111.  Chap.  VII. 


WOMEN    OF   THE   ANCIENT  GREEKS.  135 

Olympic  games,  the  great  source  of  enjoyment  and  incite- 
ment to  intellectual  or  physical  exertion  among  the 
Greeks;  but  the  Heterse,  who  publicly  sacrificed  their 
virtue  by  living  in  open  violation  of  the  purity  and  modesty 
of  women,  these  were  they  who  became  the  influential, 
though,  alas,  the  fatally  influential  of  their  sex,  to  the  des- 
tinies of  their  country.  Their  position  in  society  was 
fraught  with  evil  to  the  interests  of  Greece.  Feeling 
their  situation  to  be  most  precarious,  and  seeing  themselves 
dependent  for  the  continuance  of  their  power,  not  less  on 
the  frail  tenure  of  their  personal  charms  and  graces,  than 
on  the  preservation  of  the  powerful  attractions  of  wit  and 
intellectual  brilliancy,  by  which  they  captivated  the  pas- 
sions, and  held  in  silken  fetters,  statesmen  and  philoso- 
phers, as  well  as  warriors  and  poets;  the  Heteree  applied 
themselves  resolutely  and  energetically  to  the  study  of 
philosophy  and  science, — poetry  and  the  fine  arts. 

Aspasia,  whose  ascendancy  over  the  mind  of  Pericles, 
the  classic  writers  are  prompt  in  acknowledging  belonged 
to  the  depraved  but  influential  class  of  Heteras.  Her  in- 
tellectual fascination,  her  commanding  eloquence,  and  her 
unrivalled  graces  of  manner  and  conversation  were  the 
fruits  of  an  education,  the  ultimate  end  and  design  of  which 
had  been  to  fit  one  highly  gifted  by  nature  to  become  en- 
rolled in  the  privileged  ranks  of  the  voluptuaries  of  Greece, 
and  the  most  effectual  agents  of  her  moral  degradation. 

The  pernicious  politics  of  Pericles  eventually  entailed 
ruin  on  Athens,  whose  prosperity  it  was  ostensibly  the  aim 
of  his  administration  to  promote.  By  the  attractions  of 
his  person  and  manners,  the  persuasive  powers  of  his  elo- 
quence, combined  with,  and  heightened  by,  the  lustre  of 
his  birth,  wealth,  brilliant  talents,  and  advantages  of  edu- 
cation, he  succeeded  in  retaining  for  fifteen  years,  the  so- 


136  WOMEN    OF    THK    ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

vereignfy  of  his  native  city.  By  his  enmity  and  persecu- 
tion of  the  patriotic  and  brave  Cimon,  Pericles  ingratiated 
himself  with  the  populace,  whose  favor  was  the  mighty 
lever  by  which  the  affairs  of  Athens  v\ere  principally  di- 
rected; and  by  diminishing  the  power  of  the  Areopagus, 
he  greatly  accelerated  his  ambitious  projects.  There 
was,  however,  another  species  of  political  artillery  which 
the  able  and  crafty  master  of  Attica  scrupled  not  to  em- 
ploy lor  the  furtherance  of  his  selfish  views  and  personal 
aggrandizement. 

Having  learned  by  his  own  experience  to  measure  the 
extent  of  influence  which  the  guilty  but  fascinating  Aspa- 
sia  was  capable  of  exerting,  he  determined  to  employ  her 
as  an  instrument  of  slate  policy  in  consummating  the  pur- 
poses which  his  ambitious  spirit  had  framed.  In  order 
more  efiectually  to  accomplish  his  object,  he  invested  with 
the  title  of  wife,  her  whose  resistless  sway  over  his  own 
passion?,  in  despite  of  honor  or  decency,  he  had  openly 
demonstrated;  and  in  order  to  be  enabled  so  to  do,  he  di- 
vorced a  woman  whom  he  had  in  her  days  of  youth  and 
beauty  forcibly  wrested  from  one  to  whom  she  was  be- 
trothed.* 

A>pasia,  when  placed  at  the  head  of  the  princely  man- 
sion of  Pericles,  continued  to  maintain  the  same  ascendancy 
over  his  character  and  actions,  as  she  had  exhibited  in 
former  years,  when  their  connection  had  been  scarcely 
less  openly  recognized, or  more  notorious.  To  gratify  her 
he  undertook  a  war  against  Samos,  though  the  inhabitants 
of  that  Island  had  bravely  espoused  the  cause  of  Greece 
against  Persia,  and  her  fields  had  been  deluged  with  the 
blood  of  her  children,  when  Cimon  contended  on  her  shores 

*  Plutarch  in  Life  of  Pericles. 


WOMEN    OF   THE    ANCIENT   GREEKS.  137 

against  the  invaders  of  his  country.  Her  perverted  influ- 
ence was,  alas,  yet  more  banefully  exerted:  as  the  wife-  of 
Pericles,  she  combined  all  her  powers  of  fascination  in 
breaking  down  the  feeble  barriers  which,  until  her  era, 
had  yet  in  Athens  served  to  check  the  progress  of 
corruption,  both  public  and  private,  and  her  levees  were 
crowded  with  the  young,  the  impressible,  and  the  talented 
of  the  Athenean  youth,  and  sanctioned  by  the  presence  of 
sages  and  philosophers,  who  flocked  to  her  presence  to  re- 
ceive instructions  in  eloquence  and  oratory.*  Thus  did 
the  sagacious  and  ambitious  master  spirit  of  Athens  con- 
tinually yield  to  the  corrupting  and  deteriorating  influence 
of  one  whose  golden  but  poisoned  shafts  were  perpetually 
casting  down  the  young  and  slaying  the  strong,!  and  his 
policy  shaped  and  fashioned  itself  in  conformity  to  the 
principles  of  his  moral  directress;  he  enervated  the  Athe- 
nian populace  with  shows  and  festivals,  and  the  Athenian 
mind  by  luxurious  indulgence,  by  a  debasing  example, 
both  in  principle  and  practice.  By  making  his  country- 
men the  slaves  of  pleasure  and  sensual  gratification,  he 
paved  the  way  too  surely  for  the  victorious  and  subjuga- 
ting arms  of  Philip  of  Macedon. 

Nor  was  it  on  this  occasion  alone  that  the  moral  interests 
of  Greece  openly  succumbed  to  the  power  of  perverted 
female  talents.  Leontium,  the  pupil  and  disciple  of  th« 
philosopher  Epicurus,  cast  over  Athens  in  later  years,  by 
the  power  of  her  personal  and  intellectual  charms  enlisted 
in  the  cause  of  vice,  the  same  malign  influence  that  Aspa- 
sia  had  exerted  in  the  proud  era  of  Pericles;  and  Lais, 
magnificent  in  her  tastes,  and  princely  in  her  disburse- 

*  Plutarch  in  life  of  Pericles.— Plato  hesitated  not  to  declare  that  her 
instructions  formed  the  greatest  and  most  eloquent  orators  of  the  age. 

t  Prov.  vii:  25-27. 

12* 


138  WOMEN   OF    THE   ANCIEXT   GREEKS. 

mcnts  for  her  own  indulgence  and  the  ornamenting  of  her 
adopted  city,  proved  to  Corinth  and  to  Tbessaly  scarcely 
a  less  desolating  scourge  to  domestic  happiness  or  national 
prosperity,  by  the  moral  depravity  that  marked  her  career. 

The  names  of  these  unhappy  women,  perpetuated  by 
the  very  enormity  of  their  vices,  have  descended  to  poste- 
rity, as  beacon  lights  to  warn  the  young,  beautiful,  but  in- 
experienced of  their  sex  to  the  latest  ages,  how  dangerous 
and  demoralizing  as  well  as  demoralized  a  being  woman 
may  become,  when  endowed  by  her  Maker  with  charms 
of  person  and  intellect,  she  abuses  and  perverts  these 
talents  entrusted  to  her%  stewardship.  Besides  these 
queen-like  daughters,  among  the  lost  and  fallen  of  their 
sex.  there  were  in  every  town  and  village  of  Greece,  in 
the  days  of  her  boasted  civilization  and  refinement,  num- 
bers of  inferior  Heterao,  who,  less  conspicuous  for  beauty 
and  intellectual  graces,  but  in  no  wise  inferior  in  depravity 
of  principle,  were  in  their  relative  stations  continually 
accelerating  the  ruin  of  their  country,  and  combining  to 
seal  her  doom  among  the  nations. 

The  institutions  and  customs  of  Sparta  differed  in  many 
respects  from  those  which  prevailed  in  Athens,  as  well  as 
olher  Grecian  states:  so  likewise  were  there  important 
diversities  manifested  between  the  national  character  of 
the  Spartan  and  Athenian  people.  The  Spartans,  like 
the  rest  of  the  Doric  race,  were  characterized  by  severity, 
by  which  essential  feature  in  their  idiosyncracy,  their 
regulations  both  in  public  and  private  life,  were  essentially 
modified .  Lycurgus  did  not  create  the  Spartan  character; 
he  found  the  rude  materials,  and  sought  to  shape  tbem  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  moral  interests  of  the  state  might 
be  most  effectually  conserved.  He  did  not,  as  some  mo- 
dern political  theorists  have  attempted  to  do,  tear  down 


WOMEN    OF   THE   ANCIENT   GREEKS.  139 

old  institutions,  in  order  to  frame  a  new  and  more  perfect 
constitution  of  his  own  devizing.  Like  the  lawgiver  of 
Athens,  he  made  use  of  previous  laws  and  ancient  usages 
as  the  scaffolding  on  which  of  necessity,  he  sought  to  plant 
his  feet,  while  rearing  the  superstructure  he  was  desirous 
of  erecting,  not  for  his  own  fame,  but  for  the  benefit  of  his 
country.  Lycurgus,  like  the  most  patriotic  of  the  Greeks, 
considered  the  state  as  the  first  great  object  of  attention; 
its  citizens  were  comparatively  subordinate,  in  his  estima- 
tion; and  accordinly,  in  studying  the  laws  and  regulations 
enacted  by  him,  we  are  perpetually  reminded  that  the 
considerations  of  individual  interests, or  private  enjoyment, 
were  not  deemed  by  him  worthy  of  attention,  if  in  any  de- 
gree they  threatened  to  interfere  with  the  aggrandizement 
or  glory  of  the  Spartan  commonwealth. 

Sparta,  the  mistress  of  the  rough  and  mountainous  coun- 
try of  Laconia,  was  built  on  the  banks  of  the  transparent 
Eurotas;  but  no  massy  walls  or  brazen  gates  defended  her 
from  hostile  invasion;  she  was  expected  to  find  her  bul- 
warks and  ramparts  in  the  courage  and  undaunted  forti- 
tude of  her  sons,  who  for  ages  made  it  their  boast,  that  no 
Spartan  female  had  beheld  the  face  of  a  foreign  foe.  The 
uncompromising  severy  of  the  Doric  race,  formed  fit  ma- 
terials on  which  to  rear  a  nation  of  soldiers,  which  seems 
to  have  been  the  ultimate  design  of  the  Lycurgan  institu- 
tions; all  the  laws  and  regulations  established  by  the 
Spartan  reformer,  were  constructed  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  the  state,  fostering  and  developing  that  love  of 
military  glory  which  seemed  an  instinctive  element  of  the 
Lacedemonian  nature. 

In  effecting  the  purpose  which  was  to  him  of  paramount 
importance,  Lycurgus,  with  the  sagacity  which  character- 
ized him,  at  once  perceived  that  a  double  advantage  might 


140  WOMEN    OF    THE  ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

be  gained  by  consulting  the  interests  and  securing  the  co- 
operation of  women  in  his  plans  of  national  policy.  He 
saw  how  essential  the  physical  health  and  constitutional 
vigor  of  the  Spartan  mothers,  were  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  body  politic,  who  would  be  illy  represented  by  a  race 
of  feeble  organization,  or  defective  muscular  development; 
and  to  guard  against  this  evil,  he  established  regulations 
and  enacted  laws,  the  direct  tendency  of  which  was  to  de- 
feat the  intentions  of  the  Creator  of  the  universe,  by 
breaking  down  the  barriers  which  he  had  designed  to 
hedge  up  female  virtue.  lie  studiously  directed  his  ener- 
gies to  developing  the  physical  powers  of  woman,  which 
the  Almighty  had  purposely  designed  to  be  the  weakest  part 
of  her  nature:  and  instead  of  fostering  the  class  of  virtues 
which  the  sex  was  especially  appointed  to  develope  as 
moral  agents  for  the  amelioration  of  the  ills  incident  to  our 
fallen  nature,  Lycurgus  concentrated  his  energies  in  the 
formation  of  women  who  should  be  heroically  great;  tit 
companions  in  the  battle-field  and  in  the  public  arena, — 
but  not  such  as  by  "  the  manifestation  of  the  ornament  of 
a  meek  and  quiet  spirit."  might  cheer  the  hours  of  domes- 
tic retirement,  or  comfort  and  support  in  scenes  of  lan- 
guishing and  bereavement. 

Defective  as  the  Lycurgan  female  institutes  undoubtedly 
were,  in  respect  to  their  ultimate  end  and  scope;  they 
were  nevertheless  calculated  to  ensure  to  his  countrywo- 
men a  higher  order  of  viitue  ar;d  a  more  extended  influ- 
ence, than  was  exhibited  by  the  rest  of  their  sex  among 
the  Hellenic  nations,  though  their  standard  of  virtue  fell 
far  short  of  what  the  Gospel  exhibits,  and  accordingly  we 
find  the  Lacedemonian  women  were  long  considered  as 
the  most  heroic,  patriotic,  noblest  and  respected  of  the 
Greek  nation. 


WOMEN    OF   THE   ANCIENT   GREEKS.  141 

The  Spartan  lawgiver  resolved  the  task  of  the  legisla- 
tors chiefly  into  the  education  of  youth;  "  He  thought  that 
nothing  was  so  important  to  the  virtue  and  happiness  of  a 
nation,  as  to  have  principles  interwoven  in  the  character  of 
its  people  while  yet  iti  childhood;  since  the  impressions  made 
at  that  tender  age,  from  the  mind  having  not  been  pre-oc- 
cupied,  would  probably  be  the  most  immovable;  and  thus 
he  thought  habit  and  the  bias  of  an  early  education  would 
answer  to  each  individual  more  effectually  the  purpose  of 
a  lawgiver.* 

Acting  under  this  conviction,  he  paid  the  highest  com- 
pliment to  woman,  that  had  yet  been  offered  by  the  sages 
or  philosophers  of  classic  Greece,  for  until  the  children  of 
Lacedemon  reached  the  age  of  seven  years,  they  were  by 
his  enactments,  to  be  consigned  to  the  exclusive  care  of 
their  mothers;  and  he  who  considrred  the  whole  of  edu- 
cation as  an  exercise  of  obedience,  consulted  the  dictates 
of  nature  and  feeling  in  this  one  respect,  that  he  left  the 
future  heroes  of  Sparta  in  the  nurture  of  maternal  wisdom 
and  love,  at  the  age  when  habits  of  obedience  are  either 
more  effectually  formed,  or  principles  of  disobedience 
most  permanently  engendered. 

Filial  respect  and  maternal  affection  were  indeed  the 
distinguishing  virtues  of  the  Grecian  women,  and  the  in- 
fluence which  they  exerted  in  a  beneficial  manner,  appears 
to  have  been  almost  exclusively  directed  through  the 
channel  presented  by  the  maternal  relation;  while  mo- 
thers elicited  in  return  manifestations  of  feeling  from  bo- 
soms, which  considered  it  weakness,  and  effeminacy  to 
defer  to  the  others  virtuous  claimants  on  the  affections. 

The  conqueror  of  Macedon,  prodigal  as  he  was  of  human 

*  Plutarch  in  Lycurgus. 


142  WOMEN   OF   THE   ANCIENT   GREEKS. 

life,  and  reckless  in  sundering  the  ties  of  home  and  kindred, 
treated  his  mother,  who  was  by  no  means  a  favorable 
sample  of  Grecian  matrons,  with  respect  and  affection,  and 
when  assailed  by  complaints  against  her  from  the  pen  of  a 
favorite  general,  exclaimed  emphatically,  that  one  tear 
from  Olympia's  eyes,  could  blot  out  a  thousand  complaints 
from  Antipater.* 

The  noble  and  magnanimous  Epaminondas, — the  prince 
of  Grecian  heroes,  declared  that  the  greatest  happiness  he 
derived  from  his  Leuctran  honors,  arose  from  the  fact  that 
his  beloved  mother  lived  to  be  gladdened  by  the  intelli- 
gence. 

The  most  detailed  accounts  of  maternal  excellence  that 
are  recorded  in  Grecian  history,  are  furnished  in  the  an- 
nals of  Lacedemon.  Few  passages  can  be  found  in  classic 
pages  more,  instinct  with  interest,  and  by  which  the  sym- 
pathies of  our  nature  are  more  effectually  roused  into  ex- 
ercise, than  the  record  piven  by  Plutarch  of  the  youthful 
Agis,  the  virtuous,  conscientious,  and  enlightened  reformer 
of  Sparta,  who  flourished  at  a  period  when  his  country 
had  become  sadly  corrupted,  by  the  introduction  of  gold, 
silver,  and  other  foreign  luxuries,  interdicted  by  the  tem- 
perate Lycurgus.  In  the  helplessness  of  infancy,  Agis  had 
been  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother,  the  noble  Agesistrata, 
and  his  no  less  princely  grandmother,  Archidamia.  These 
illustrious  females  were  the  most  wealthy  of  the  Spartan 
matrons,  and  Agis  was  their  sole  pride  and  delight,  yet 
nevertheless  such  was  the  wise  moderation  and  judicious 
tenderness  with  which  they  had  educated  the  heir  to  the 
crown  of  Sparta,  that  when  he  was  seated  on  the  throne, 
he  continued  to  exhibit  the  same  dignified  simplicity  and 

*  Plutarch  in  Alexander. 


WOMEN    OP   THE   ANCIENT   GREEKS.  143 

unostentatious  manners,  as  had  characterized  his  country- 
men of  former  ages.  He  made  no  alteration  in  his  attire, 
continuing  to  wear  the  simple  clonk  of  Lacedemonj, — he 
relaxed  not  in  his  abstemious  habits;  nor  relinquished  his 
athletic  and  healthful  exercises;  and  constantly  affirmed 
that  the  sceptre  of  Sparta  would  possess  no  charm  in  his 
eyes,  did  he  not  hope  by  the  power  with  which  it  invested 
him,  to  restore  to  his  country  the  laws  and  discipline  which 
had  ancietitly  characterized  her,  and  by  means  of  which 
she  had  obtained  supremacy  in  Greece. 

Agesistrata  had  extensive  connections,  great  wealth,  and 
influence  in  Sparta,  and  her  son  fondly  thought  that  if  her 
view  could  but  be  made  to  harmonize  with  his,  on  the 
subject  of  public  reformation  in  manners,  the  prospects  of 
his  country's  safety  would  be  exceedingly  brightened. — 
When  she  was  apprized  that  the  ultimate  aim  of  Agis  was 
to  restore  not  only  primitive  simplicity  of  manners,  but 
parity  of  fortune,  she  was  at  first  surprised  and  chagrined, 
and  endeavored  to  persuade  him  that  his  project  would 
prove  impracticable  and  unsalutary.  The  youthful  mon- 
arch succeeded  in  overcoming  her  opposition,  and  in  con- 
vincing her  of  the  expediency  of  banishing  luxury,  and 
of  returning  to  the  simple  institution  of  Lycurgus;  and  no 
sooner  was  her  judgment  convinced,  than  with  the  ardor 
of  woman's  nature,  she  urged  Agis  onward  to  the  execu- 
tion of  his  purpose.  Agesistrata  and  her  aged  mother 
both  disinterestedly  relinquished  their  princely  fortunes 
for  the  public  good;  and  then  sought  to  persuade  the  ma- 
trons of  Sparta  to  follow  their  example.  None,  however, 
could  be  found  magnanimous  enough,  like  them,  to  sacri- 
fice personal  considerations  for  the  promotion  of  the  moral 
health  of  the  state.  So  far  from  it,  their  countrywomen 
combined  their  influence  to  make  the  house  of  Agis  ob- 


144  WOMEN    OF    THE    ANCIENT    GREEKS. 

noxious  to  the  public; — the  Ephori  joined  with  virulent 
and  implacable  animosity  the  opposing  faction,  and  by  their 
authority  Agis,  Agesistrata,  and  Archedamia,  were  con- 
signed to  one  common  prison,  and  forced  each  to  submit 
to  an  ignominious  death.  The  son  and  parent  of  the  ex- 
queen  of  Sparta  was  executed  first,  and  she  was  then  led 
to  the  spot  in  which  their  mangled  bodies  were  lying  to 
receive  the  same  bloody  doom.  She  tenderly  embraced 
the  corpse  of  Agis,  exclaiming,  "My  son!  thy  too  great 
moderation,  lenity  and  humanity  have  ruined  thec  and  thy 
family."  Her  murderer?  interrupted  her  with  brutal  ex- 
clamations, and  she  was  hurried  on  to  execution.  The 
last  prayer  of  the  expiring  Agcsislrata  was,  that  the  tragi- 
cal fate  of  her  family  might  eventually  be  productive  of 
good  to  her  beloved  Sparta. 

Cleomencs,  the  successor  of  Agis,  emulated  him  in  zeal 
for  his  country's  welfare,  and  in  devizing  means  for  ils  re- 
formation, while  his  fate  was  no  less  tragical.  He  was 
blessed, like  him,  in  having  female  relativesof  distinguished 
honor  and  virtue.  His  belovedand  devoted  wife  Agistra  was 
the  sharer  of  his  counsel?,  the  sympathizer  in  his  sorrows, 
and  the  companion  of  his  Egyptian  exile.  The  conduct 
of  his  mother  Cratesiclea  has  rendered  her  memory  illus- 
trious. At  a  period  when  Clcomcnes  was  beset  with  nu- 
merous vindictive  enemies,  Ptolemy,  king  of  Egypt,  offered 
to  grant  him  succor,  with  this  proviso,— that  his  mother 
and  children  should  be  sent  to  his  court  as  hostages. 
Cleomencs'  feelings  of  filial  affection  and  respect,  prevent- 
ed him  from  apprizing  his  parent  of  the  onerous  terms  of 
the  Egyptian  stipulation.  Cratesiclea  with  the  quick  dis- 
cernment of  maternal  love,  perceived  that  something 
pressed  on  the  mind  of  Cleomenes,  and  insisted  on  the 
matter  being  divulged  to  her  by  her  friends.  Nothing 


WOMEN    07    THE    ANCIENT  GREEKS.  145 

daunted  by  the  intelligence,  she  said  to  her  son,  "  Is  this 
the  secret  you  feared  to  communicate?  Place  me  on 
board  a  ship,  and  let  this  old  worn  out  frame  of  mine,  be 
sent  where  it  may  still  be  of  use  to  you  and  Sparta,  before 
it  becomes  the  victim  of  death." 

When  the  hour  of  separation  arrived,  she  repressed  her 
own  emotions,  and  sought  to  assuage  those  which  agitated 
the  breast  of  Cleomenes.  Folding  him  in  a  last  tender 
embrace,  she  exclaimed,  "  King  of  Sparta,  let  us  take 
heed  that  we  do  nothing  unworthy  of  our  country.  This 
alone  is  in  our  power.  The  event  belongs  to  the  gods." 

After  contemplating  the  situation  of  our  sex,  under  a 
regime  in  which  female  tenderness  was  repressed,  and 
female  delicacy  systematically  checked,  by  regulations  of 
Lycurgus,  the  enumeration  of  which  would  be  sufficient  to 
call  a  flush  on  the  cheek  of  a  modest  Christian  female; 
instead  of  feeling  any  longer,  surprise  at  hearing  from  a 
Greek  historian  that  the  Lacedemonian  women,  in  "  their 
whole  behaviour,  weje  bold  and  masculine,  particularly  to 
their  husbands,  considering  themselves  as  absolute  mis- 
tresses of  their  own  houses,  and  wanting  even  a  share  in 
affairs  of  state;"  we  are  rather  compelled  to  marvel, 
that  under  such  a  system,  "  every  thing  lovely  and  of 
good  report"  which  still  lingered  in  their  fallen  nature, 
was  not  entirely  eradicated  by  the  destroyer. 

But  the  examples  I  have  cited,  and  more  which  might 
he  adduced,  prove  to  us,  that  even  under  a  system  of 
comparative  social  degradation,  while  excluded  from  the 
refining  effects  of  improving  society;  debarred  when  vir- 
tuous almost  exclusively  from  any  access  either  to  the 
temple  of  truth,  or  to  that  of  knowledge ;— above  all,  while 
unfurnished  with  religious  motives,  unenlightened  by 
revelation,  and  exposed  to  the  demoralizing  influence  of 
13 


146  WOMEN    OF    THE    ANCIENT     GREEKS. 

Pagan  superstition — even  under  all  these  adverse  circum- 
stances, there  were  not  a  few  of  the  women  of  Greece,  who 
could  present  faint, but  nevertheless  beautiful  adumbrations 
of  those  peculiar  graces  which  their  sex  was  originally  de- 
signed to  develope  in  the  loveliness  and  power  of  religious 
vitality. 

In  later  days,  we  find  a  rich  gleam  of  mellow  light  pass- 
ing over  Greece,  gilding  with  its  rays  the  countenances  of 
the  females  of  this  classic  land,  and  causing  them  to  shine 
with  more  beauty  tlrm  did  Agesistrata,  or  Cratesiclea. — 
The  Sun  of  righteousness  arose  in  Judea,  and  his  bright 
beams  crossed  the  intervening  waters,  and  rested  on  those 
shores,  which,  notwithstanding  they  had  been  trodden  by 
Socrates,  Plato,  Aristotle,  and  a  host  of  sages  and  philoso- 
phers, were  still  in  the  sight  of  God,  dark  and  benighted. 
St.  Paul,  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  in  his  mission 
of  love  visited  Greece,  and  the  historian  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament informs  us,  that  when  he  visited  Thessalonica,  for 
"three  days  he  reasoned  with  them  out  of  the  Scriptures;" 
"  some  of  them  believed  and  consorted  with  Paul  and  Silas; 
and  of  the  devout  Greeks,  a  great  multitude,  and  of  the 
chief  women  not  a  few;" — and  again  among  the  noble  Be- 
reans,  who  "  received  the  word  with  all  readiness  of  mind, 
and  searched  the  Scriptures  daily  whether  those  things 
were  so;"  and  in  doing  so  believed,  "there  were  of  hon- 
orable women  which  were  Greeks,  not  a  few"  At  Athens, 
too,  when  the  apostle  was  mocked  and  derided,  as  the 
setter  forth  of  strange  doctrines,  Damaris  dared  to  believe 
on  Jesus,  and  confess  him  before  her  incensed  countrymen. 
In  Philippi  also  were  many  female  saints,  especially  dear 
to  St.  Paul,  who  were  honorably  designated  as  having  been 
co-workers  with  him;  Christianity  having  broken  their  fet- 


WOMEN   OF  THE  ANCIENT  GREEKS.  147 

ters,  and  introduced  them  to  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God. 

At  this  moment,  the  eyes  of  the  Christian  church,  are 
turned  with  intense  anxiety  towards  one  dwelling  of  mo- 
dern Greece,  where  under  the  patronage,  and  crowned 
with  the  blessings  of  a  nation,  a  female  missionary  from 
the  land  of  the  free,  is  laboring  with  apostolic  zeal,  en- 
lightened intellect,  and  feminine  humility,  to  train  the 
daughters  of  Greece  to  duty  and  to  win  them  to  their 
God.  Intellectual  exertion  is  no  longer  proscibed, 
but  is  associated  as  the  handmaid  of.  piety.  By  precept, 
and  by  the  light  of  her  own  consistent  and  beautiful  ex- 
ample, the  female  head  of  the  Episcopal  Missionary  family 
at  Athens,  is  seeking  to  train  for  Greece,  a  band  of  pious, 
intelligent  women,  who,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  will  prove 
the  richest  treasure  to  the  land  of  their  birth,  and  to  their 
beloved  and  self-devoted  preceptress,  her  joy  and  crown 
of  rejoicing  in  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN"  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

While  the  Greek  or  Macedonian  empire,  symbolized  in 
David's  vision,  under  the  form  of  a  winged  leopard,  was 
extending  its  conquests  from  Illyricum  to  the  Ganges, 
underthe  victorious  banners  of  her  master-chief  Alexander, 
with  a  rapidity  probably  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of 
mankind,  there  had  already  arisen  in  the  Italian  peninsula, 
';a  fourth  kingdom,  diverse  from  all  kingdoms."  In  her 
republican  form  of  government, — her  duration, — :her 
extent  of  dominion,  and  the  peculiar  fortitude,  indom- 
itable courage,  and  stern  integrity,  which  for  centuries 
characterized  her  subjects,  Rome  rendered  herself  truly 
remarkable  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  justified 
the  prophetic  delineations  of  her  idiosyncrasy,  typically 
represented  in  the  vision  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  by  the  lower 
limbs  of  the  "  great  image,"  which  were  of  iron,  the  par- 
ticular metalic  structure  by  which  the  fourth  kingdom 
was  symbolized. 

During  the  earlier  and  most  prosperous  period  of  her 
national  existence,  when  her  constitution  continued  in  its 
most  perfect  state,  while  her  laws  and  customs  were  main- 
tained with  astonishing  steadiness  of  purpose  and  self-sac- 
rificing principle,  her  sons  were  characterized  for  frugality, 
poverty,  and  valor,  and  by  the  force  of  these  qualities  of 
mind  and  body,  as  with  "great  iron  teeth,  they  devoured^ 
and  brake  in  pieces,  and  stamped  the  residue"  of  the  na- 


WOMEN  OF  THE  HOMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.     149 

tions  of  the  earth  under  their  victorious  feet,  and  drew 
the  spoils  of  conquered  lands  to  enrich  their  capital, 
while  the  great  and  mighty  among  the  captives  were  made 
to  swell  the  boasted  triumphs  of  their  heroes. 

Upon  the  early  history  of  this  remarkable  people,  a  veil 
of  obscurity  rests,  and  the  authenticy  of  the  accounts  of  the 
origin  of  tt  the  eternal  city,"  framed  we  know  not  how,  and 
adopted  by  poets  and  credulous  historians  to  flatter  the  pride 
of  the  Romans,  is  at  this  period  generally  considered  by 
the  learned,  as  no  longer  tenable,  and  in  reality  as  being 
little  better  than  legendary  traditions.* 

But  even  allowing  the  accounts  of  the  primitive  ages  of 
Roman  history  to  be  legendary;  and  Rom-ulus  deputed  in 
infancy  to  have  been  the  nursling  of  Acca  Lawrerilia,  as 
in  later  years  he  was  represented  the  deified  son  of  Mars; 
and  Numa.  the  heaven-instructed  legislator,  "to  have  been 
fabulous  personages;  we  may  yet,  in  the  tradition  which 
for  so  long  a  period  supplied  to  the  Roman  people  the 
place  of  national  history,  and  were  undoubtingly  recogniz- 
ed as  such,  not  only  by  their  own  writers,  but  by  Plutarch 
and  other  foreign  historians  of  that  era,  find  materials  for 
interesting  reflection;  from  which  we  may  elicit  to  a  cer- 
tain degree,  the  opinions  prevalent  among  the  classical 
writers  of  Roman  antiquity,  and  their  cotemporaries  of 
the  nation  generally,  as  to  the  religious,  political  and  social 
condition  of  the  state  during  the  early  ages  of  its  existence. 

An  interesting  writer  on  Roman  history  remark;,  in  the 
commencement  of  his  work, — "  il  ne  faut  pas  prendre 
de  la  ville  de  Rome  dans  see  commencements  Fidee  que 

*  For  full  consideration  of  this  subject,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the 
history  of  Rome  by  the  learned  Niebuhr,  who  bestowed  much  time  and 
critical  research,  in  the  investigation  of  the  fabulous  periods  of  Roman 
antiquity. 

13* 


150    WOMEN  OF   THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH   AND  EMPIRE. 

nous  donnent  les  villes  que  nous  voyans  aujourd'hui  a 
moins.  que  re  ne  soient  celles  de  Crimee  faites  pour  ren- 
fermerle  batin,lesbestiaux  et  les  fruits  dc  la  campagne."* 
Equally  vague  and  unsatisfactory  must  be  the  notions  which 
we  form  of  the  institutions  and  manners  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans, unless  in  investigating  these  we  likewise  endeavor 
to  detach  our  minds  from  our  habitual  associations. 

In  the  primitive  times  of  this  great  nation,  austere  fru- 
gality, stern  integrity,  industry  and  simplicity  of  manners 
and  habits,  characterized  the  people.  A  strict  regard  to 
law  was  considered  an  indispensable  duty  of  the  citizen?, 
in  the  maintenance  of  which  it  was  pre-supposed  that  pri- 
vate interests  and  personal  feelings  must  be  made  rigidly 
subordinate.  War  was  the  native  element  of  Rome,  and 
the  institutions  and  laws  of  the  republic  were  framed 
with  a  special  design  to  enable  the  vessel  of  the  state  most 
successfully  to  ride  out  the  tempests  and  currents  of  popu- 
lar feeling  incident  to  a  people  belligerent  from  policy. 

Religion  among  the  Romans  was  made  much  more  a 
business  of  the  state,  than  in  any  of  the  Grecian  communi- 
tiei.  Numa  was  regarded  by  them  as  the  founder  of  their 
religious  worship,  and  the  institutions  and  sacred  rites 
•which  tradition  ascribed  to  him,  were  perpetuated  for 
many  ages,  so  that  according  to  livy,  the  Roman  "  people 
Continued  to  practice  the  duties  of  religion  more  scrupu- 
lously than  any  other  people."  And  the  amour patrie,  which 
burned  so  brightly  in  the  bosom  of  these  stern  republicans, 
seemed  always  more  or  less  colored  by  the  sentiments 
peculiar  to  their  system  of  belief,  totally  defective  in  its 
essence,  as  all  systems  of  heathen  theology  must  ever  ne- 

*  "  Considerations  sur  les  causei  de  la  grandeur  dei  Roaiains  et  d« 
leur  decadence,"  par  Montesquieu. 


WOMEN   OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.     151 

cessarily  be.  The  Grecians,  as  was  previously  remarked, 
had  no  distinct  sacerdotal  order,  while  a  college  of  priests 
appears  to  have  been  one  of  the  institutions  earliest  estab- 
lished and  longest  retained  among  the  Romans;  and  its 
members,  on  many  occasions,  exercised  a  most  decided^ 
influence  in  the  civil  history  of  the  republic,  since  it  de- 
volved upon  them  to  determine  the  probable  results  not 
only  of  those  undertakings,  which  involved  private  inter- 
ests, but  of  such  as  concerned  the  national  prosperity. — 
The  annals  of  Rome  not  unfrequently  record  the  fact  of 
the  Senate  officially  consulting  the  sacred  college  and  the 
office  of  the  head  of  the  Pontiiices  was  considered  one  of  > 
the  most  honorable  in  the  commonwealth.  The  institu- 
tion of  the  Vestal  Virgins,  was  from  time  immemorial  as- 
sociated with  the -religious  history  of  Rome.  So  that  reli- 
gion generally  ascribed  its  foundation  to  Numa.  Tke 
members  were  limited  in  number  and  trained  by  long 
practice  for  the  discharge  of  their  sacred  .offices;  the  first 
ten  years  were  passed  in  their  novitiate  as  learners  of  the 
duties  of  religion;  the  succeeding  ten  were  spent  in  the 
discharge  of  the  sacerdotal  functions;  the  remaining  ten 
in  instructing  others;  after  which  peried  they  were  exone- 
rated from  the  duties  of  their  office,  and  at  liberty  to  return 
to  other  occupations,  although  few  of  the  order  were  ever 
found  disposed  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege,  since 
public  opinion  was  opposed  to  the  practice,  and  the  power 
of  that  mighty  engine  was  felt  by  the  Vestals  of  Rome,  as 
keenly,  perhaps,  as  by  their  sister  spirits  of  the  present 
day.  Certain  distinctive  and  honorable  prerogatives  were 
enjoyed  by  the  privileged  class  of  Roman  females;— when 
they  went  abroad,  the  fasces  were  carried  before  them;* 

*  Plutarch  in  Numa. 


152     WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

the  highest  dignitary  of  the  republic  was  obliged  to  give 
them  the  precedence  in  the  public  path;  and  did  they 
encounter  an  unhappy  criminal  on  his  way  to  receive  the 
sentence  of  the  law,  they  enjoyed  the  extraordinary  privi- 
lege of  releasing  him  from  the  officers  of  justice,  provided 
sufficient  evidence  could  be  adduced  that  their  meeting 
was  not  premeditated.*  •- 

There  was  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  the  Ro- 
man nature,  nor  in  the  civil  and  political  institutions  of 
the  nation,  calculated  to  engender  more  kindly  feelings,  or 
more  respectful  regard  towards  their  women,  than  was 
evinced  by  the  warriors  of  Greece.  The  public  good  was 
the  one  absorbing  subject  of  consideration,  and  to  it  the 
dictates  of  animal  feeling,  the  impulsive  emolions  of  the 
heart,  and  the  ties  of  kindred  were  required  to  be  subor- 
dinated. The  Roman  father  or  husband  was  expected 
to  stifle  the  sympathies  of  the  parental  or  conjugal  relation, 
and  to  sacrifice  his  life,  or  the  interests  of  daughter  or  wife, 
unhesitatingly  to  the  furtherance  of  the  national  weal, 
nay,  the  senate  went  so  far  as  to  legislate  purposely  for 
the  specific  object  of  checking  the  outbreakings  of  female 
tenderness  when  they  presumed  to  allow  the  gush  of  natu- 
ral feeling,  in  opposition  to  the  stern  enactments  of  rigid 
patriotism. 

Nor  were  the  civil  and  political  privileges  of  the  Roman 
women  less  restricted  than  their  social  rights.  In  the 
early  ages  of  the  republic,  females  were  permitted  to  in- 
herit property,  but  at  a  subsequent  period,  the  law  sternly 
required  the  fathers  of  the  nation  to  leave  their  helpless 
daughters  portionless  and  destitute,  while  their  estates 
were  transferred  from  necessity  to  distant  male  relatives, 

*  Plutarch  in  Numa. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.     153 

This  unnatural  interference  with  the  rights  of  women  was 
manifested  in  the  halls  of  legislation  in  an  extraordinary 
manner  in  the  year  of  Rome  584.  Paternal  tenderness  was 
ascertained  to  have  frequently  attempted  to  elude  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  laws,  in  respect  to  the  descent  of  property;  to 
meet  this  difficulty  the  Vocoman  law  was  passed,  which  abo- 
lished  the  right  of  female  inheritance;  but  the  influence  of 
the  virtuous  Roman  matronsof  that  day,  proved  sufficient  to 
elicit  from  the  affection  of  their  male  relatives,  a  compen- 
satory peace  offering  for  the  abridgment  of  their  legitimate 
privileges.  The  younger  Scipio  at  the  time  of  the  pas- 
sage of  the  law  so  onerous  upon  the  prospects  of  the  Ro- 
man females,  had  just  entered  his  17th  year,  and  his  affec- 
tionate nature  seized  an  opportunity  for  exercising  its 
generous  impulses  towards  his  mother  and  sisters,  who 
ranked  among  the  brightest  ornaments  of  their  sex  in  that 
era.  Subsequently  various  devices  were  employed  to 
elude  the  famous  statute,  such  as  naming  a  "qualified 
citizen  in  the  testament,  with  a  prayer  or  injunction  that 
he  would  restore  the  inheritance  to  the  person  or  persons 
for  whom  it  was  intended.  Various  was  the  conduct  of 
the  trustees  in  this  painful  situation;  they  had  sworn  to 
observe  the  laws  of  their  country,  but  honor  prompted 
them  to  violate  their  oath;  and  if  they  preferred  their  in- 
terest under  the  mask  of  patriotism,  they  forfeited  the 
esteem  of  every  virtuous  mind.  The  declarations  of  Au- 
gustus relieved  their  doubts  and  gave  a  legal  sanction  to 
confidential  documents  and  codicils,  and  gently  unravelled 
the  forms  and  restraints  of  republican  jurisprudence."* 

One  of  the  first  efforts  of  Roman  legislation  appears  to 
have  been  to  determine  definitely  as  to  the  exclusive  and 

k  Gibbon'*  Rome.    Chapter  XLIV. 


154  WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

unrestricted  maintenance  of  parental  rights.  In  the  do- 
mestic circle,  Christianity  teaches  its  disciples  beautifully 
to  attemper  the  exercise  of  a  father's  authority  by  the 
sanctioned  manifestations  of  a  fathers  tenderness;  but  in 
Rome  the  children  of  the  citizens  were  legally  considered 
under  the  parental  roof,  as  mere  things,  while  abroad,  in 
the  forum  and  camp,  they  were  entitled  to  the  privilege  of 
persons.*  Moved  by  the  suggestions  of  avarice,  the  heads 
of  families  were  empowered  to  dispose  of  their  offspring 
and  slave?,  with  as  much  facility  as  they  could  bargain  for 
the  transfer  of  their  cattle  or  moveables;  and  the  law  also 
entrusted  them  with  discretionary  punitive  power,  so  that 
parental  despotism,  uncognizable  to  any  earthly  tribunal, 
was  permitted  free  scope,  and  unnatural  fathers  were 
allowed  to  punish  the  real  or  imaginary  faults  of  their  chil- 
dren by  personal  chastisement  of  the  most  severe  kind,  by 
exile,  condemnation  to  servitude,  and  even  to  death;  and 
this  arbitrary  investiture  of  power  continued  to  clothe  the 
masters  of  families  beyond  the  times  of  Pompey  and  Au- 
gustus, though  the  manifestation  of  it  in  its  extreme  limits, 
was  happily  not  of  frequent  occurrence.  Even  in  the 
proudest  era  of  Roman  civilization,  an  unhappy  child  was 
whipped  to  death  by  its  barbarous  parent,  and  Augustus 
himself  scrupled  not  to  abuse  his  prerogatives  of  office  by 
shielding  the  domestic  tyrant  from  the  fury  of  the  populace; 
public  opinion  having  been  insensibly  adected  by  the  pro- 
gressive civilization  of  the  people. 

Neither  was  it  alone  by  the  vigorous  exercise  of  undue 
parental  authority,  that  the  social  and  civil  privileges  of 
the  women  were  abstractly  restricted.  Man  in  the  conju- 
gal relation  proved  himself  no  less  the  supreme  master  and 

•  Gibbon's  Rome.     Chapter  XLIV. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.      155 

legislator  of  the  females  of  his  family.  In  the  early  times 
of  the  republic,  the  husband  was  invested  with  no  less  de- 
spotic power  than  was  conferred  on  the  father;  he  bought 
his  bride  of  her  parents,  and  though  this  ceremony,  entitled 
the  coemptiO)\vas  mutual,  the  equality  of  privileges,  if  that 
were  really  intended  to  be  intimated  by  it,  was  merely 
nominal,  for  the  practical  results  of  the  marriage  contract 
were  to  the  women  of  the  republic  unequal  and  vigorous 
in  comparison  to  those  which  flowed  to  the  dominant  party . 
The  husband  was  invested  with  an  almost  unrestricted  au- 
thority over  the  person,  as  he  was  with  absolute  and  un- 
limited control  over  the  fortune,  of  his  wife.  In  the 
plenitude  of  his  conjugal  prerogatives,  even  under  the 
impulse  of  mere  caprice  or  of  mistaken  judgment,  he  was 
empowered  to  censure  or  approve,  to  condemn  and  chas- 
tise, and  even  subject  to  capital  punishment  in  certain 
specified  cases,  the  wife  whom  he  had  purchased,  while 
the  slavery  was  irremediable  and  permanent.  In  subse- 
quent ages,-  under  the  excitement  of  triumphs  after  the 
Punic  wars,  the  matrons  of  Rome  aspired  to,  and  obtained 
a  mitigation  of  the  unequal  terms  of  the  marriage  contract, 
and  a  repeal  of  other  statutes  which  they  contended  had 
been  passed  under  the  exigency  of  circumstances,  for  the 
promotion  of  the  public  weal.  While  the  necessity  exist- 
ed for  their  exercise  they  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  legal 
restrictions,  but  when  the  pressure  occasioned  by  war  was 
removed,  the  matrons  in  a  body  demanded  a  repeal  of 
the  obnoxious  laws.  Cato  the  Censor,  from  his  natural 
temperament  inclined  to  press  the  austerities  of  legal 
enactments  to  their  utmost  rigor,  more  especially  when 
weak  woman  was  the  subject  of  them,  eloquently  haran- 
gued the  senate,  in  the  hope  of  inciting  or  stimulating  this 
august  body  in  its  official  capacity,  to  silence  at  once  the 


156     WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

aspiring  hopes  of  the  Roman  females; — in  spite  of  his  ex- 
ertions, however,  the  matrons  gained  their  point,  arid  the 
Oppian  law  was  repealed. 

Five  centuries  subsequent  to  the  Christian  era,  the 
emperor  Justinian  commenced  and  completed  a  reforma- 
tion of  the  Roman  jurisprudence,  a  task,  the  arduous  na- 
ture of  which,  may  in  a  degree  be  understood  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  laws  and  legal  opinions 
which  ten  centuries  had  prepared  for  his  revision,  were 
so  numerous  as  to  fill  many  thousand  volumes.  By  the 
matrimonial  laws,  and  the  laws  of  succession  to  inheritan- 
ces in  the  code  of  Justianian,  the  Roman  women  were 
confirmed  in  the  enjoyment  of  increased  privileges,  which 
had  been  gradually  enlarging  to  them  in  the  period  <vluch 
intervened  between  the  repeal  of  the  oppian  law,  arrti  the 
era  of  Justinian;  for  from  the  time  that  the  matons  of  the 
republic  "became  the  equal  and  voluntary  companions  of 
their  lords,  a  new  jurisprudence  was  introduced,  and  mar- 
riage, like  other  partnerships,  was  permitted  to  be  dissolv- 
ed, by  the  abdication  of  either  of  the  associates." 

Had  women  been  deputed  in  the  providence  of  God,  to 
any  other  agency  than  a  moral  one,  how  could  they,  fet- 
tered as  they  were  in  Rome,  by  arbitrary  legislative 
restrictions,  and  excluded  with  exceeding  jealousy  from 
social  and  civil  privileges,  have  exerted  any  salutary 
influence  on  the  destinies  of  their  country?  To  what  ex- 
tent they  were  thus  influenced  we  will  now  briefly  attempt 
to  show;  and  in  doing  so,  it  will  be  found  that  they 
who  by  law  were  ranked  as  mere  things,  could  yet  vindicate 
their  claims  to  a  more  honorable  title,  and  receive  a  virtual 
acknowledgment,  wrung  from  the  stern  natures  of  their 
countrymen,  contravening  the  terms  of  their  jurisprudence, 
and  showing  that  in  their  inmost  hearts,  under  the  heathen 


WOMEN  OF  THE   ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.      157 

economy, — by  a  corrupt  nature,  they  felt  woman  to  be  in 
reality  even  in  the  measure  of  moral  excellence  attainable  in 

A  spirit  stilt  and  bright, 

With  something  like  an  angel  light. 

On- the  other  hand,  we  mast  remark,  that  it  is  in  accord- 
ance vvith  the  dictates  of  reason  to  suppose;,  that  if  the 
female  sex  were  deputed  by  God  to  act  as  the  handmaids 
of  religion, — the  vestal  virgins  by  whose  ministrations  the 
sacred  elements  which  slumber  in  our  fallen  world  were 
especially  to  be  guarded,— their  moral  influence  as  exert- 
ed in  their  legitimate  sphere  of  action,  would  be  recogni- 
ze^ more  decidedly  by  that  one,  among  .the  heathen  slates, 
who  gave  the  most  public  attestation  to  the  necessity  of 
religion,  and  whose  system  of  belief,  radically  corrupt  and 
erroneous,  lik.e  all  other  false  creeds,  was  yet  neverthe- 
less^ g realty  superior  in  morality  to  that  of  other  Pagan 
nations  of  antiquity;  the  cme  fact, 'ef  the  recognition  of  the 
fear  of  Hell,  by  the  Romans,  evinces  them -to  have  been 
considerably -in  advance  of  th.e  Greeks,  in  the  influential 
character  qf .their  religious  opinions.* 

Accordingly"  the  traditions  for  many  ccTrturies  currently 
recognized  as  authentic  by  this  great  people,  represented 
the  eternal  city  as  having  been- on  more  than  one  occasion 
preserved  from  destruction  by  the .  instrumentality  of 
females.  When  it  ^as  said,  the  .Sabines  -had  approached 
in  warlike  array  to  make  a  fierce  priset^n  the  forces  of  the 
infant  state,  in  revenge  for  their  plundered  women, Which 
would  in  all  probability  have  been. "fatally  decisive  ui  its 
consequences,  then  ilid  Hersilia,  the  wife  of  Romulus,  fol- 
lowed by" her  countrywomen,  rush  in  between  the  hostile 
armies,  and  by  the  eloquence  of  nature's  oratory,  allay  the 

*  The  great  historian  Pel.ybius  asserts  the  Cicl,  and  shows  the  benign 
effects  which  must  have  resulted  fo  the  people  by  whom  the  belief  wa« 
entertained. 

14 


158    WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COfiMON WEALTH    A!\'D 

animosities  which  raged  in  the  bosoms  of  the  opposing 
armies,  and  by  their  persuasive  appeals  opened  the  way 
for  a  peace  so  important  in  its  consequences,  that  woman 
as  the  agent  by  whose  instrumentality  it  was  chiefly  effect- 
ed, was  publicly  recognized  as  the  deliverer  of  her  coun- 
try, ;md  a  feast  tvas  instituted  to  Jier  honor  commemora- 
tive of  the  occasion,  called  Matronaha.  Roman  fc-males. 
were  thenceforward  declared  exempt  from  all  drudgery, 
save  that  of  spinning. 

Again  in  the  third  century  after  the  building  of  the  city, 
the  tiery,  hardy,  and  war-like  Romans,  were  delivered 
from  the  galling  yoke  of  regal  tyranny,  and  the  consular 
government  was  established  on  the  ruins  of  the  monarchy, 
through  the  powerful  impulse  of  long  smothered  feeling*, 
kindled  to  a  flame  in  the  breast  of  Brutus,  Collatinus,  and 
other  relatives  of  the  unhappy  Lucretia.  When  they  be- 
held the  death-bed  of  the  virtupus  matron,  and  heard  her 
bewail  her  wrongs  with  pathetic  lamentations,  roused 
almost  to  phrenzy  by  the  tragical  fate  of  orre  k>  beloved 
and  lovely  and  so  injured,  the  stern  warriors  standing 
around  her  couch,  pledged  themselves  solemnly  never  to 
rest,  until  their  country  should  be  free  from  tyranny  and 
brutal  oppression,  and'the  seal  which  gave  validity  to  the 
mutual  compact,  was  the  blood  ofthe  injured  but  virtuous 
Lucretia. 

When  Rome  was  menaced  by  the  fierce  armies  of  Gaul, 
then  again  did  she  find  a  buckler  in  the  self-denying 
patriotism  of  her  dfiughter?,  and  for  this  second  public 
deliverance  from  a  foreign  foe,  the  women  ofthe  republic 
were  allowed  the  "privilege  of  general  rations. 

Coriolanus  under  the  impulse  of  wounded  pride,  forsook 
his  country,  and  enrolled  his  name  in  the  Volscian  army; 
and  subsequently  to  gratify  his  pique,  led  the  fierce  Vols- 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMOMON WEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.    159 

cians,  in  character  of  their  general,  (o  destroy  the  lane 
which  gave  him-birfh.  'When  the  Romans  beheld' the 
glittering  ranks  of  the  enemy,  and'remembered  the  well- 
tried  courage  of  Coriolanus,  their  spirits  quailed,  And 
consternation-1  publicly  prevailed.  In^vain,  embassies  of 
the  most  imposing  kind  charged  with  terms  of  conciliation, 
were  dispatched  to  mollify  the  ,arigry.  chief;  he  was 
inexorable.  At  length  Rome  .deputed  woman  as  her 
agent,  ajvd  to  her  consigned  ,  the  destinies  of -the  nation. — 
Volumnia,  the  mother,  Veturia,  the  wife,  of  Coriolanus, 
accompanied  by  his  children,  and  the,  chief  matrons  of 
Rome,  moved  in  mournful  procession  towards  tlie  ranks  of 
the  Volscii.  The  mighty  passions  which  burned  in  the 
bosom  of  the  fierce  warrior  was  checked  by  the  sight,  and 
softer  feelings  strove  to  usurp  their  place -,  for  a  time  Co- 
riolanus wavered,  for  his  pride  was  indomitable; -but  when 
Volumriia  with  the  quickness  of  maternal-perception^' saw 
the  advantage  she  had  gained,  she  threw  herself  at  his  feet, 
imitated  in  the  silent  eloquence  of  this  appeal  by  her 
daughter-in-law  and  grand  children, — then  were  the  better 
feelings  of  his  nature  made  to  triumph,  under  the  mani- 
festation of  woman's  specific  virtues,  and  raising  his  vene- 
rable parent  from  the  ground,  he  exclaimed,  UO  mother! 
what  have  you  not  done!  You  have  gained  a  victory  glo- 
rious for  your  country  but  ruinous  to  me!  I  go  conquered 
by  you  alone."  After  some  private  conversation  with  his 
family,  he  withdrew  from  the  Volscian  army,  and  the  p/o-. 
cession  returned  with  chastened  joy  to  the  city  ^Rbme  was 
saved,  but  Volumnia  was  to  all  effects  childless  and  Ve- 
turia a  widow. 

Throughout  the  republic  joy  resounded,  and  the  tem- 
ples were  filled  with  worshippers,  while  the  senate  and 
people,  simultaneously  declared  that  to  women  their  be- 


160     WOMEN  OF  THE  "ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

loved  country  was  indebted  for  its  preservation.  And  in 
corroboration  of  tht'ir  assertion,  a- public  decree  was  pass- 
ed, permitting  .the  Roman  females  to  exact  any  mark  of 
their  country's  gratitude  agreeable  to  their  own  inclina- 
tions. A  temple  reared  four  miles  from"  the  city  on  the 
spot  wlxere  Volumnia  overcame  the  resolution  of.  Coriola- 
iius,  remained  for  centuries  a  standing  attestation  of  the 
national  sense  of  obligation'  to  female  virtue,  and  of  the 
moderation  \y.ith  which*  its  victory  was  accompanied. 
.  But  it  is  not  to  legendary  traditions  alone  that  we  have 
recource.  for  the  notices  of  female  virtue,  or  of  the  public 
institutions  commemorative  of  it,  among  the  Romans. — 
The  genuine  history  of  the  nation  as  embodied  in  the 
writing's  of  many  of  her  most  illustrious  authors  after  the 
era  of  literature  commenced,  exhibit  the  moral  agency  of 
woman  not  unfrequently  in  a  striking  manner,  and  the 
correspondence  of  Pliny,  Cicero^  and  others  of  her  great 
men,  show  that  the  virtuous  among  the  sex,  had  acquired  a 
weight  in  public  estimation  never  awarded  to  the  same  class 
in  the  communities  of  refined  and  intellectual  Greece. 

The  causes  which  led  to  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Ro- 
man empire,  have  been  ably  and  fully  detailed  by  many 
modern  historians,  and  it  would  be  irrelevant  to  my  pre- 
sent purpose,  and  trespassing  on  the  limits  assigned  to 
this  chapter,  to  attempt  to  enter  on  the  consideration 
of  them  at  this  time,  even  if  the  task  were  not  a  pre- 
sumptuous one  for  me  to  undertake.  With  the  onward 
progress  of  moral  corruption  in  the  state,  the  advancement 
in  luxury,  and  the  extension  of  a  philosophic  sect,  whose 
pernicious  maxims  permitted  the  desire  for  gratification 
of  the  senses  to  be  substituted  as  a  motive  power,  instead 
of  virtuous  principle,  the  glories  of  Rome  began  to  wane, 
sojhat  one  of  .her  sons,  was  led  Vehemently  to  exclaim. 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN    COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.     16 1 

u  would  that  all  the  enemies  of  Rome  might  adopt  the 
principles  of  Epicurus!" 

The  females  of  the  nation  sympathised  to  a  degree  in 
the  general  degeneracy  of  manners,  but  their  influence 
was  not  unknown  or  unfelt  even  during  the  sanguinary 
civil  wars  which  rent  the  state  convulsively,  and  the  still 
darker  scenes  of  the  proscription,  when  Roman  blood 
streamed  in  torrents,  and  the  cries  of  the  slaughtered  sons 
of  the  republic,  were  at  times  sufficiently  piercing  to  drown 
the  deliberations  of  the  senate-chamber.  Sylla,  who  ex- 
ercised his  unbounded  power,  with  such  ruthless  atrocity, 
and  made  certain  apartments  of  his  palace  avast  charnel 
house,  the  sight,  of  which  chilled  the  blood  of  the  stern 
warriors  of  Rome, — even  Ihis  ambitious  tyrant,  and  reck- 
less expender  of  human  life,  felt  deeply  the  powerful  in- 
fluence of  the  beautiful  and  intellectual  Cecilia  Metella, 
and  had  he  known  her  earlier,  or  her  life  been  preserved 
to  a  later  period,  even  with  her  defective  views  of  moral 
duty,  Infinite  suffering  might  have  been  averted  from  the 
Roman  people. 

There  was  not  a  few  virtuous  Roman  matrons  who  ex- 
erted an  influence  of  a  far  more  salutary  and  conservative 
kind  than  did  the  fascinating  Metella  over  the  mind  of 
Sylla.  It  was  customary  for  women  of  the  highest  rank 
in  the  republic  to  preside  over  the  education  of  their  sons, 
and  even  to  assume  the  office  of  governesses  to  the  young 
members  of  the  patrician  order.  Among  the  virtuous  mo- 
thers of  Rome,  Cornelia,  the  daughter  of  Scipio  Africanus, 
and  the  wife  of  Sempronius  Gracchus,  was  one  of  the  mast 
distinguished. 

The  monarch  of  Egypt  had  desired  to1  share  his  throne 
with  Cornelia,  but  unmoved  by  the  suggestions  of  ambition, 
she  rejected  his  suit  and  became  the  wife  of  a  Roman  citi- 

14* 


!  (.:'.'     WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAIf  COMMONWEALTH    AND  EMPIRE. 

/en.  She.  was  the  mother  of  the  celebrated  Gracchi, 
who  were  indebted  according  to  the  testimony  of  Cicero 
and  Quintilian  for  their  intellectual  attainments  and  ora- 
torical skill,  as  well  as  for  their  moral  excellence,  to  the 
mother  who  had  watched  over  their  infancy,  and  subse- 
quently devoted  herself  unweariedly  to  the  culture  of 
their  intellectual  and  moral  nature,  in  accordance  with 
the  purest  svstem  of  ethics  known  in  Ihe  days  of  the  re- 
public? Memorials  of  her  maternal  faithfulness  were 
erected  fiot  only  in  a  marble  statue  with  this  inscription, 
CORNELIA  MATEK  GRACCHORUM,  but  in  still  more  imper- 
ishable forms  in  the  writings  of  the  celebrated  historians 
of  her  country,  who  have  borne  the  strongest  testimony  to 
her  virtues  as  well  her  extraordinary  intellectual  qualiti- 
cations. 

The  historian  'Tacitus,  in  his  interesting  biographical 
sketch  of  his  father-in-law  Agricola,  the  ex-governor  of 
Britain,  has  left  a  tribute  of  a  nation's  gratitude  to  a  faith- 
ful mother.  •'  Julia  Procilla,  the  mother  of  Agricola,  was,'' 
he  observes,  '•  respected  for  the  purity  of  her  manners. — 
Under  her  care,  and  as  it  were  in  her  bosom,  the  tender 
mind  of  her  son  was  trained  to  science  and  every  liberal 
accomplishment." 

It  is  pleasing  to  female  hearts,  to  find  a  man  like  Pliny 
the  younger,  celebrated  for  his  philanthropy,  and  reputed 
as  sharing  with  his  friend  Tacitus,  the  palm  of  oratorical 
excellence  in  the  age  in  which  he  flourished,  giving  in 
his  letters  repeated  and  unequivocal  evidence,  that  he  re- 
cognized and  appreciated  the  claims  to  moral  excellence 
presented  by  many  of  his  cotemporaries  among  our  sex. 
He  was  not  reluctant  to  expatiate  to  a  confidential  friend 
on  the  excellence  of  his  friend  Fannia,  a  niece  of  one  of 
tb^  vestal  virgins;  nor  did  he  consider  it  derogatory  to  his 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.     163 

understanding,  or  discreditable  to  his  heart,  to  be  "  deeply 
afflicted  when  this  excellent  woman  was  going  to  be  re- 
moved from  the  eyes  of  the  world,  which  might  never  per- 
haps again  behold  her  equal."  "  How  consummate,''  he 
continues,  "  is  her  virtue,  her  piety,  her  wisdom,  her  cour- 
age. She  twice  followed  her  husband  into  exile,  and  once 
was  banished  upon  his  account."  After  continuing  to  en- 
large feelingly  on  her  excellence,  he  makes  this  beautiful 
compliment  to  female  virtue  in  the  person  of  Fannla:  "-for 
myself,  I  confess  I  can  not  but  tremble  for  this  illustrious 
house,  which  seems  shaken  to  its  very  foundations,  and 
ready  to  fall  into  ruins  with  her;  for  though  she  will  leave 
descendants  behind  herryet  what  a  height  of  virtue  must 
they  attain,  what  glorious  action  must  they  perform,  ere 
the  world  will  be  persuaded  that  this  excellent  woman 
was  not  the  last  of  her  family  I" 

Nor  was  it  to  the  excellence  of  this  one  favored  female 
friend  alone,  that  Pliny  was  found  furnishing  confirmatory 
evidence.  Of  his  mother  he  speaks  in  terms  of  the  most 
reverential  affection.  To  his  wife  Calphurnia,  eminent 
for  her  feminine  graces,  he  makes  acknowledgements  of 
the  most  tender  but  respectful  kind, — "  I  fear  every  thing," 
he  says  to  her,  "  that  can  befal  you,  and  as  is  usual  with  all 
under  the  same  terrifying  apprehensions,  I  suspect  most, 
what  I  most  dread.  Let  me  conjure  you  then,  to  prevent 
my  solicitude  by  writing  to  me  every  day,  and  even  twice 
a  day."  On  another  occasion  we  find  him  occupying 
almost  the  whole  of  one  of  his  letters  in  the  consideration  of 
the  virtues  of  the  celebrated  Avria,  whose  reply  to  her 
husband  Paetus,  so  memorable  in  history,  was  not,  he  con- 
sidered, more  deserving  of  preservation,  than  many  other 
parts  of  her  interesting  history. 

Numerous  other  cases   illustrative   of   the  influence 


164   WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

of  women  in  the  most  flourishing  times  of  Roman  history 
might  be  adduced,  but  I  must  uot  permit  free  scope  to  my 
pen  in  this  pleasing  exercise,  or  I  should  extend  the  limits 
of  the  present  chapter  to  an  undue  length. 

Let  it  suffice  to  observe,  that  in  the  rapid  declension  in 
the  morality  of  the  nation,  which  is  observable  to  the 
attentive  student  of  Roman  history,  from  the  times  of 
Caesar  to  the  destruction  of  the  empire,  while  women  con- 
tinued more  and  more  to  lay  aside  the  proprieties  and  de- 
corum of  manners  which  had  characterized  the  sex  in 
former  ages,  and  by  their  decreasing  virtue  experienced  a 
diminution  of  their  wholesome  moral  influence,  yet  were 
they  generally  in  advance  of  the  virtue  of  the  times, 
while  the  names  of  Placina,  Messalina,  Agrippina,  Fausti- 
na, and  many  others  of  a  kindred  spirit,  will  forever  embla- 
zon, on  the  page  of  history,  the  unhappy  and  fatal  conse- 
quences that  must  ensue  to  a  country,  where  profligacy 
o  manners  and  intellectual  vigor  characterize  the  influen- 
tial females,  unchecked  by  counteractive  virtuous  agency 
among  the  sex. 

In  the  blood-stained  and  polluted  pages  of  later  Roman 
history,  we  occasionally  rest  on  a  spot  which  by  its  com- 
parative purity  shines  like  a  moral  oasis  in  the  dreary  de- 
sert of  sin  which  surrounds  it.  Such  was  the  brief  reign 
of  Alexander  Severus,  and  with  the  same  avidity  that  the 
parched  traveller  of  Zahara,  attempts  to  slake  his  thirst, 
when  a  cooling  spring  rises  before  him  unexpectedly,  so 
does  the  reader  of  the  reign  of  the  voluptuous  and  imfa- 
mous  Elagabolus,  turn  instinctively  to  the  records  of  his 
amiable  and  accomplished  cousin  and  successor,  Alexander 
Severus. 

This  youthful  monarch  had,  however,  been  trained  by 
his  sagacious  mother  Marniaea,  and  her  wise  counsellors, 


WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN  COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE.    165 

and  to  the  latest  period  of  his  short  but  eventful  life,  he 
continued  to  cherish  an  unalterable'  regard  for  her,  and  a 
rigid  adhcrance  to  her  precepts. 

In  thevcivil  administration  of  Alexander,  wisdom  ten> 
pered  his  power,  and  under  his  paternal,  fostering  careT 
tlie  nation  gave  promise  of  rising  to  somewhat  of  its  pris- 
tine vigor;  but  the  wise  plans  suggested  by  female 
sagacity  and  ntaternal  love,  and  carried  into  op£j#tion.by 
Alexander,  were  at  length  defeated  signally  and  fatally. 
The  administratiotxpf  the  emperor  was  an  unavailing,5trug- 
gle  against  the  moral  degeneracy  of  the  age,  and  his  life 
was  finally  sarrificed  to  the  seditious  and  factious  military, 
who  could  illy  brook  the  restrictions  which  were  attempt- 
ed to  be  imposed  on  their  passions,  after  the  unbridled 
license  which  had  been  enjoyed  under  his  predecessor?. 

Over  the  long  and  varied  details  which  cover  the  ex- 
tended pages  of  Roman  history,  we'might  linger  for  an 
indefinite^  period,  but  the  results  would  be  substantially 
the  same,  in  reference  to  our  present  position.  F.very 
where  we  find  evidence  of  woman's  agency,  either  in  hu- 
manizing society,  or  in  throwing  a  darker  shade  over  its 
interests,  temporal  and  spiritual,  by  her  perverted  or  abu- 
sed privileges. 

As  Rome  had  the  precedence  in  morality  among  the 
heathen  nations  of  antiquity,  when  she  walked  by  the  dim 
light  of  reason,  so  when  the  pure  doctrines  of  the  Gospel 
were  made  known  to  her  children,  was  their  "  faith  spoken 
of  throughout  the  whole  world,"  and  their  obediencelo 
its  precepts  became  universally  remarkable.  St.  Paul 
notes  certain  eminent  believers  among  the  Roman  women, 
whom  he  especially  commends  to  the  affection  of  the 
church  j  one  of  whom  had  been  heroic  enough  to  peril  her 
life  for  the  preservation  of  his,  while  another,  to  whose 


1GC)    WOMEN  OF  THE  ROMAN 'COMMONWEALTH  AND  EMPIRE. 

name  he  prefixes  the  epithet  of  "  beloved,"  had  labored 
much  in  the  cause'of  her  master. 

Ecclesiastical  history  also/  records  numerous  examples 
in  the  early  ages  of  the  church,  and  especially  in  the  sea- 
sons of  persecution,  in  wh'ich  the  daughters  of  the  eternal 
city,  gifted  with  the  same  rare-natural  endowment?  that 
had  rendered  Cornelia,'  Fannia  Avria,  and  others  of  hea- 
theji  ages,  illustrious,  but  baptized  with  the  spirit  of  God. 
had  been  enabled  to  transcend  them  immeasurably  in  mo- 
ral excellence;  so  that  while  the  former  were  chronicled 
by  the  pen  of  the  historian,  or  memorialized  by  the  chisel 
of  the  sculptor,  the  latter  have  been  written  down  in  the 
book  of  God's  remembrance,  and  will  forever  be  ex- 
hibited as  among  his  most  peculiar  treasures. 


C  H  A  P  T  E  R     I  X  . 

"WOMEN  IN  A, SAVAGE  AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED  STATE   OF  SOCIETY. 

Individuals  self-complacent  in  the  possession  of  personal 
charms,  and  accustomed  to  attach  undue  importance  to 
extrinsic  circumstances,  may  not  unfrequently  be  found 
chagrined  and  chafed  from  having  a  mirror  presented  for 
their  use,  the  irregularities  in  the  plain  surface  of  which, 
have  prevented  the  perfect  equality  between  the  angles 
of  incidence  and  reflection  observable  in  a  well  construct- 

%   ** 

ed  reflector. 

Perscnal  vanity  in  such  cases  is  wounded,  when,  they 
observe  the  distorted  images  which  they  can  scarcery  bear 
to  recognize  as  the  reflection  of  their  own  finely-formed  fea- 
tures, and  the  unpleasant  spectacle  is  banished  from  sight 
and  recollection  as  quickly  as  possible. 

Somewhat  of  a  similar  spirit^  is  occasionally  perceptible 
in  those  who  are  nominally  Christians;  bat  averse  to  the 
recognition  of  some  of  the  leading  truths  of  our  holy  reli- 
gion, when  an  exhibition  of  human  nature  is  brought  be- 
fore them,  reflected  on  the  surface,  of  Pagan  society,  and 
which  is  represented  to  them  as  being  a  specimen  of  fallen 
humanity,  distorted  in  its  development  only  by  peculiari- 
ties of  local  circumstance  and  the  absence  of  those  advan- 
tages of  mental  and  moral  culture  enjoyed  in  Christianized 
countries. 

Painful  and  humiliating  such  spectacles  must  ever  prove 
to  pious  minds  possessed  of  sensibility  and  refinement,  but 


168          WOMEN  IN  A  SAVAGE  AND  SEMI-CIVILIZED  STATE. 

though  revolting  and  distasteful,  they  may  nevertheless 
Tje  rendered  very  salutary.  Under  this  conviction,,  while 
humbly  ser'king  to  urge  the  claims  of  o'ur  country  upon 
American  females  at  this  eventful  crisis,  I  can  not  but 
deem  it  very  desirable  to  impress  upon  our  minds  a  lively 
sense  of  the  degradation- and  manifold  miseries,  insepara- 
ble from  the  condition  of  women  in  a  savage*  and  a  semi- 
civilized  state  of  sccieh  ;  since  by  this  means  we  may 
become  convinced  of  the  wretchedness  which  would 
have  been  our  inalienable  portion  unless  the  sun  of 
righteousness  had  arisen,  and  cast  his  enlivening  beams 
on  our  own  land,  a,nd  on  that  of  our  forefathers. 

The  doctrine  of  human  depravity  and  of  the  necessity 
of  a  renewal  of  .the  heart  by  the  sanctifying  influences  of 
the  Holy  Spirit,  lie  I  conceive,  at  the  base  of  all  practi- 
cal godliness,  and  until  they  arc  recognized  by  the  under- 

**  •/ 

standing,  and  cordially  assented  to  by  the  heart,  it  will  be 
in  vain  that  we  attempt  to  discharge  faithfully  and  effi- 
ciently, our  responsibilities  to  God,  or  our'countrv.  The 
harbiiiii'  f  of  our  blessed  Redeemer,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
commissioned  task,  used  these  .effective  weapons  in  levelling 
the  stu1>1)'orn  ar.d  obstructing  elements  which  opposed  the 
entrance  of  tho  Saviour  of  Sinners,  into  those  hearts  which 
he  came  to  redeem  from  iniquity.  So  in  like  manner 

*  "  Tl.e  interior  movements  of  society  have  been  so  little  attended  to, 
that  the  vocabulary  is  somewhat  scanty  for  discriminating  the  shades 
of  its  changes;  savage  harbiiiian,  agricultural  and  civilized,  are  the  only 
four- terms  we  have  to  denominate  the  ran::e  and  variety  of  social  exis- 
tence.' lOveti  these  denominations  are  ol  lax  application;  the  savage 
though  denoting  the  simplest  slate,  is  obliged  to  stand  for  a  variety  of 
:  the  solitary  anin:al  who  in  the  Indian  islands  IB  hunted 
like  tho  I-  jisls  of  chase,  and  takes  refuge  in  the  branches  of  trees;  the 
miserable  wretches  that  scarce  exist  upon  the  Andaman  islands,  and  the 
brutal  lam.lips  of  New  South  Wales,  ate  included  under  the  same  de- 
signation, with  the  bravest  and  most  eloquent  tribes  of  the  North 
American  Indians."— DOUGLASS  ON  THS  ADVASCEMEKT  or  SOCIETY. 


WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       169 

when  our  divine  Redeemer  was  applied  to  for  instruction, 
by  the  trembling  and  half  persuaded  ruler  of  the  Jew?, 
who  under  the  covert  of  night  sought  information  from 
him,  whom  he  dared  not  approach  in  the  light  of  day, — the 
great  truth  first  pressed  home  to  his  conscience,  and  sub- 
sequently, in  the  course  of  the  same  conversation,  impressed 
as  it  were  by  divine  energy  on  his  memory,  was  this, — 
t;  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  except  a  man  be  born 
again,  he  can  not  see  the  kingdom  of  God."     If  American 
females  aspire  to  the  high  and  honorable  task  of  being 
efficient  moral  agents  of  their  Lord  in  the  social  circle  and 
in  the  world  which  sin  has  made  a  desolate  wilderness,  let 
them  become  thoroughly  indoctrinated  on  this  vital  point, 
and  then  there  will  be  every  reason  to  hope,  that  they  may 
go  "  to  the  help  oi   the  Lord  against  the  mighty"  hosts, 
which  are  perhaps  even  now  mustering  their  forces  and 
sounding  their  tcumpets  preparatory  to  an  open  conflict. 
While  taking  a  coup  d'ceil  at  the  field  of  Roman  and 
Grecian  history,  if  our  visual  organs  have  been  preserved 
free  from  mental  or  moral  obliquity,  we  can  not  have 
failed  to  recognize  the  total  inadequacy  of  mere  intellec- 
tual refinement,  philosophy  and  human  sagacity,  in  secur- 
ing the  moral  prosperity  and  happiness  of  a  nation,  more 
especially  of  its  females.     In  the  cursory  glance  which  our 
limits   permit  us   to    take   at   the   condition  of   modern 
heathen  nations,  we  shall  be  forcibly  impressed  by  the 
conviction  of  the  depravity  and  national  wretchedness  en- 
tailed on  all  countries,  over  which  the  dense  fogs  of  mental 
darkness  are  resting,  and  through  which  the  light  of  divine 
truth  has  not  penetrated.     A  brief  examination  of  the  be- 
nignant effects  which  have  resulted  from  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  into  some  of  these  previously  moral  wastes, 
and  a  comparison  of  their  situation  with  that  of  ancient 

15 


170       WOMEN    IN*    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

Greece  or  Rome,  may  convince  us  that  when  nations  are 
exposed  to  one  another,  of  the  two  evils,  mental  ignorance 
or  spiritual  darkness, — how  infinitely  superior  is  the  lot  of 
those  whose  measure  of  mental  advantages  is  limited, 
while  the  blessed  truths  of  the  Gospel  have  burst  the  fet- 
ters which  had  spiritually  enchained  them; — in  comparison 
to  such  as,  revelling  in  the  blaze  of  intellectual  illumina- 
tion, have  been  uncheered  by  the  vivifying  light  of  life. 

At  a  period  very  little  -subsequent  to  the  discovery  of 
the  western  continent,  the  attention  of  Europeans  was  first 
directed  to  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Pacific,  intervening  be- 
tween Asia  and  America,  which  in  the  present  century 
has  received  the  general  appellation  of  Oceanica;  and  by 
the  progressive  discoveries  of  modern  navigators,  has  been 
ascertained  to  be  studded  with  innumerable  groups  of 
smaller  islands,  interspersed  with  others  of  larger  dimen- 
sions, one  of  which  in  size  approaches  more  nearly  to  that 
of  a  continent.  This  mighty  Archipelago  has  been  subdi- 
vided into  Malaysia,  Australasia,  and  Polynesia,  theaggre- 
gate  land  area  of  which  comprises  about  an  eleventh  part 
of  the  superfices  of  the  terrene  surface  of  our  globe. 

The  inhabitants  of  Oceanica  differ  materially  in  their 
religion,  and  manners,  and  customs,  as  well  as  in  the  races 
from  which  they  trace  thr.ir  origin.  In  some,  Budhism  is 
the  prevalent  religion,  in  others  the  Mahommedan  faith 
is  recognized,  while  in  a  large  majority,  Paganism  was 
dominant  at  the  time  of  their  discovery.  Our  limits  admit 
but  a  cursory  glance  at  the  different  nations  which  people 
these  verdant  isles,  so  rich  in  natural  charms;  we  shall 
therefore  be  forced  to  confine  our  observations  to  a  few  which 
may  serve  as  general  representations;  since  substan- 
tially the  c  ondition  of  large  classes  of  them  was  the  same 


WOMEN    IN    A     SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       171 

at  the  time  of  their  discovery,  modified  only  by  peculiar 
circumstances. 

"  When  Taheite  was  discovered  in  our  fathers  days," 
observed  pne  of  the  leading  secular  journals  of  Great 
Britain  at  the  commencemct  of  the  present  century,  "it 
became  the  admiration  and  envy  of  Europe.  The  philos- 
ophers who  placed  happiness  in  the  indulgence  of  sensual 
appetite,  and  freedom  from  moral  restraint,  were  loud  in 

their  praises  of  this  New  Cythera But  now  that  it  is 

better  known  it  appears  indisputable  that  their  iniquities 
exceed  those  of  any  other  people,  ancient  or  modern, 
civilized  or  savage;  and  that  human  nature  never  has 
been  exhibited  in  such  utter  depravity  as  by  the  inhabi- 
tants of  these  terrestrial  paradises.''* 

The  earliest  band  of  devoted  English  missionaries  arri- 
ved at  Taheite  late  in  the  18th  century,  and  at  first  were 
led  to  imagine  that  the  gloomy  anticipations  they  had  form- 
ed as  to  the  character  of  the  Taheitans,  would  be  agreea- 
bly disappointed.  Longer  acquaintance,  however,  dispell- 
ed these  hopes,  and  led  them  to  realize  in  a  measure,  the 
conflicts  to  which  in  all  probability  they  might  be  subject- 
ed. Parental  and  conjugal  duties  were  alike  disregarded. 
The  hoary  head  instead  of  being  considered  a  crown  of 
glory,  or  its  possessor  a  privileged  claimant  on  the  sym- 
pathies and  affections  of  the  young,  was  regarded  but  as  a 
subject  of  general  contumely  and  neglect;  while  unnatu- 
ral children  were  not  unfrequently  found,  degraded  so  far 
in  the  scale  of  humanity,  as  willing  to  consign  the  au- 
thors of  their  natural  being  to  premature  and  violent 
deaths,  in  order  to  obtain  a  release  from  the  task  of  minis- 
tering to  their  infirmities,  and  providing  for  their  wants. 

*  London  Quarterly  Review,  August,  1839. 


172      WOMEN    IN    A   SAVAGE   AND   SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

Under  a  state  of  society  like  this,  which  was  nearly 
identical  in  its  leading  features  in  all  the  Polynesian  groups, 
when  first  discovered  by  Europeans, — how,  it  may  natu- 
rally be  inquired,  did  woman,  the  moral  agent,  appear,  and 
to  what  extent  was  she  empowered,  to  execute  her  com- 
missioned work?  We  are  informed  that  in  the  Washington 
Islands,  (discovered  by  Capt.  Ingraham  of  Boston,  1691,) 
which  at  the  time  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stuart's  visit  in  1829. 
were  "  still  in  the  original  heathenism  of  tlje  whole  of 
Polynesia,"  that  the  population  was  divided  into  two 
general  classes, — the  common  and  the  tabu.  The  former 
included  all  the  females  of  every  rank,  and  all  men  enga- 
ged in  their  service  as  personal  attendant's;  the  latter  the 
rest  of  the  male  population.  So  degraded  were  the  wo- 
men of  these  islanders  in  public  estimation,  that  the  food 
eaten  by  the  favored  lords  of  the  tabu,  or  the  dwellings 
occupied  by  them,  were  prohibited  them,  and  did  they 
even  presume  to  touch  an  article  that  had  passed  over  the 
head,  without  even  touching  the  person  of  a  tabu  man,  the 
act  was  considered  so  sacriligiou?,  that  by  no  atonement 
less  costly  than  the  sacrifice  of  her  life,  could  the  unhappy 
lemale  who  might  have  erred  by  carelessness,  rather  than 
presumption,  appease  the  vengeance  of  him  whose  majesty 
she  had  infringed.  When  the  females  of  Nukuhiva,  by 
the  special  invitation  of  the  American  commander,  visited 
the  Vincennes  at  the  time  the  vessel  lay  anchored  in  the 
harbor,  none  of  them  presumed  to  ascend  the  upper  deck, 
while  their  lords  remained  in  the  cabin  beneath. 

Many  of  these  despised  daughters  of  Nukuhivah,  Mr. 
Stewart  describes  as  having  been  "exceedingly  beautiful. 
Their  eyes,"  he  observes,  "  have  a  rich  brilliancy,  softened 
by  long  glossy  eye-lashes  that  can  scarce  be  surpassed; 
which  with  »  regularity  and  whiteness  of  teeth  unriva  lied, 


WOMEN    IN"  A   SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED   STATE.       173 

add  greatly  to  the  impression  of  features  of  a  more  Euro- 
pean mould,  than  most  uncivilized  people  I  have  seen.  In 
complexion  many  of  them  are  very  fair, — scarce,  if  any, 
darker  than  a  clear  brunette, — admitting  in  some  cases  of 
a  distinct  mantling  of  color  in  the  cheek  and  lips;  while 
in  figure  they  are  small  and  delicately  formed,  with  arms 
and  hands  that  would  bear  comparison  with  any  in  the 
drawing  room  of  the  most  polished  noblesse." 

In  that  vast  insular  continent  of  Australia,  vegetable  and 
animal  life  appear  under  distinct  and  peculiar  develop- 
ments* Many  of  the  quadrupeds  and  birds  are  unique  in 
their  kinds,  diverse  from  those  of  all  other  countries. — 
The  kangaroo  and  the  koala,  tenant  indigenously  no  other 
forests  than  the  sombre  and  cheerless  ones  of  Australia; 
the  gigantic  emu,  in  its  rapid  ostrich-like  movements,  has 
no  where  else  been  encountered  by  the  naturalist.  Man  too, 
the  ostensible  lord  of  the  soil,  in  his  physical  conformation 
and  loathsome  degrading  habits,  when  discovered  by  the 
first  Europeans  who  visited  New  Holland,  represented  hu- 
manity under  an  idiom,  essentially  different  from  that 
manifested  by  his  brethren  of  Polynesia.  Disgusting  to  the 
eye  in  his  misshapen  form,  he  was  no  less  revolting  in  his 
sensual  nature,  which  seemed  to  place  him  on  a  par  with 
the  brutes  that  perish,  and  scarcely  advanced  above  them 
in  the  scale  of  being.  Women  oppfessed  by  her  degraded 
master  in  every  possible  mode,  dragged  out  her  miserable 
existence  by  sufferance; — at  one  time  stunned  by  brutal 
violence,  at  another  loaded  and  driven  as  a  beast  of 
burden.* 

The  native  sons  of  our  North  American  forests,  exhibit 


*  For  a  detailed  account  of  New  Holland,  and  its  inhabitants,  I  refer 
to  the  valuable  work  of  Malte  Brun. 

15* 


174      WOMEN    IN   A    SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED   STATE. 

traits  of  character  essentially  different  from  those  which 
distinguish  the  savage  tribes  of  Asia  and  Africa,  to  whom 
in  the  nobler  elements  of  their  nature,  fhey  are  very  far 
superior.  Enduring  patiently  the  vicissitudes  of  climate, 
and  the  privations  incident  to  his  mode  of  living,  the  Indian 
welcomes  the  stranger  hospitably  to  his  roof,  and  often 
ohares  with  hitij  the  last  morsel.  The  recollection  of 
kindness  received  and  faith  ,pledgcd  is  preserved  by  him 
\vith  equal  tenacity;  and  there  "have  not  indeed  been 
Writing  among  the  Indians  of  North  America,  those  whose 
'•areer  has  been  a  demonstration  of  the  nobility  of  their 
nature."  . 

Characterized  by  noble  traits,  the  Indian  race  has,  how- 
ever, been  marked  also  by  no  less  striking  deformities  in 
their  moral  constitutions.  Revenge  is  a  master  passion  of 
their  souls;  having  no  intellectual  pursuits,  and  yet  thirst- 
ing after  excitement,  they  seek  food  for  it,  in  the  chase  of 
the  wild  beasts  of  their  forest,  or  in  warring  with  san- 
guinary cruelty  upon  their  fellows  among  the  aborigenes, 
or  too  often  in  the  peaceful  settlements  of  their  white 
neighbors. 

The  uncivilized  Indian  men  have  no  taste  for  agri- 
culture, which  they  consider  a  degrading  occupation; 
neiher  do  they  take  an  interest  in  domestic  affairs. — In 
the  intervals  of  stirring  occupations,  their  time  is  sauntered 
away  in  monotonous  listlessness,  and  supreme  contempt  of 
the  ordinary  routine  of  domestic  dirties.  To  their  women 
are  consigned  to  the  laborious  occupations  of  their  rude 
husbandry,  and  the  drudgery  of  the  family.  During  their 
long  and  wearisome  marches,  they  are  also  compelled  to 
carry  both  the  provisions  which  are  to  afford  them  suste- 
nance, and  the  hammocks  on  which  their  masters  are  to 
repose  at  night.  When  stationary,  they  too  are  compelled, 


WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE   AND   SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

as  their  inalienable-  birth-right,  to  be  the  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water;  nay,  more,  they  are  to  be  the  very 
grooms  and  watchful  guardians  of  the  horses  and  dogs  of 
the  tribe,  whose  value  is  far  greater  in  the  eyes  of  the 
savage  Indian,  than  those  of  wife  or  daughters;  the  -tents, 
too,  must  be  pitched  by  the  drudging  females;  the  pole 
fences  erected;  and  the  stakes  and  forks  driven  into  the 
ground  -and  arranged,  on  which  their  houses  of  bark  are 
to  be  reared.  The  corn  which  they  have  planted,  hoed 
and  gathered,  must  also  be  parched,  bruised  or  ground  by 
them  for  the  service  of  the  men ;  these  lounging  meanwhile 
in  self-indulgent  listlessness,  inhale  the  smoke  of  the  intoxt- 
eating  weed,  and  give  not  one  thought  or  care  to  the  pa- 
tient, laborious^beings  who  are  toiling  and  tasking  every 
energy  for  their  enjoyment.  "  What  kindness  can  we 
show  our  daughters,"  exclaimed  an  unfortunate  Indian 
woman,  when  reproached  for  murdering  a  female  infant, 
"  equal  to  putting  them  to, death  1  Would  that  my  mother 
had  put  me  under  the  ground  at  the  hour  of  my  birth!" 

Fearful  are  the  convulsive  reactings  of  wounded  feeling, 
and  spurned  affection  sometimes  exhibited  fay  the  female 
Indian.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  practice,  we  are  well  as- 
sured, for  them  under  the  impulse  of  pique  or  jealousy 
towards  their  husbands,  to  desert  their  infants  at  a  period 
when,  the  tencler  affection  and  fostering  care  of  their  natu- 
ral guardians  are  especially  required. 

The  instinctive  tenderness  of  the  maternal  bosom,  .at 
such 'moments,  becomes  merged  in  the  jealous  desire  to 
revenge  their  own  personal  wrongs;  the  innocent  offspring 
are  thenceforward  regarded  rather  as  the  representatives 
of  the  offending  fathers,  than  as  parts  of  their  own  being. 
Actuated  by  this  passionate  and  criminal  desire  of  wreak- 
ing vengeance  on  those  who  have  injured  them,  (he  Indian 


176        WOMEN    IN   A   SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED   STATE. 

females  have  been  known  to  consign  their  tender  babes  to 
the  appalling  loneliness  of  the  prairie,  there  to  perish  by 
lingering  famine,  or  to  become  the  prey  of  wild  and  fero- 
cious beasts. 

Such  a  case  occurred  in  one  of  our  western  missionary 
stations  at  a  period  no  less  recent  than  1 832.  A  tender 
babe  of  a  few  days  old,  became  an  object  of  indifference, 
and  apparently  of  aversion  to  its  mother,  when  deserted 
by  her  husband.  A  burning  fever  had  parched  her  own 
bosom,  and  the  thirsting  babe  could  not  obtain  the  nour- 
ishment which  the  infant  pallate  instinctively  craves.  Its 
mother  would  not  take  the  trouble  to  feed  it, — because  its 
cruel  father  had  spurned  her  from  him,  and  sought  a 
younger  and  fairer  bride.  While  she  thought  he  was  in- 
different to  it,  she  was  desirous  of  giving  it  to  the  kindness 
of  the  female  Christian  teachers,  but  when  she  learned  that 
he  wished  them  to  have  it,  she  snatched  it  from  them,  to 
rush  into  the  solitude  of  their  native  forests.  Finally  she 
did  return, — she  gave  it  to  her  whose  heart  had  been 
touched  for  its  miseries,  and  whose  knee  had  been  bent 
for  it  in  prayer.  The  babe,  discarded  from  the  sympa- 
thies of  a  heathen  mother,  whose  soul  was  scathed  by  un- 
restrained passion,  found  a  second  home  in  the  bosom  of 
a  Christian  female  missionary. 

The  different  tribes  of  the  African  race,  vary  essen- 
tially in  their  personal  appearance  and  habits.  Though 
among  them  all  females  are  universally  considered  as  the 
slaves,  rather  than  the  companions,  of  man;  even  the 
numerous  petty  kings,  are  not  exempt  from  servile  duties, 
and  a  modern  traveller,  in  his  journey  through  the  nor- 
thern part  of  Upper  Guinea,  found  the  numerous  band  of 
the  king  of  Dahomey's  wives,  actually  formed  into  a  regi- 
ment trained  to  perform  the  military  evolutions  practised 


WOMEN    IN    A   SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       177 

in  the  rude  state  of  African  warfare,  and  fully  equipped 
with  such  weapons  as  were  used  by  the  ordinary  soldiers. 
Captain  Glapperton  mentions  one  of  the  kings  who  honored 
him  by  a  visit,  asbcingaccompanied  by  six  younggirls, each 
"carrying  three  light  spears,  who  ran  by  the  side  of  his 
horse,  keeping  pace  with  it  at  full  gallop.  Their  light 
forms,  the  vivacity  of  their  eyes,  and  the  ease  with  which 
they  seemed  to  fly  over  the  ground,  made  them  appear 
something  more  than  mortal.  On  -the  king's  entrance^ 
they  laid  down  "their  spear?,  wrapped  themselves  in  their 
blue  mantles,  and  waited  on  his  majesty." 

.  An  intelligent  missfqnary,  when  writing  a  few  years 
since,  on  the  social  condition  of  the  natives  of  Western 
Africa,  remarks  on  the  condition  of  polygamy,  and  the  de- 
graded condition  of  the  females;  the  number  of  a  man's 
wives  and  bullocks,  he  states  as  determining  his  measure-  of 
wealth,  and  his  importance  in  the  civil  cotmmunity. 

These  unhappy  females,  whose  sex  has  been  sufficient 
to  consign  them  to  a  servile  condition,  arc  generally  pur- 
chased in  tender  years,  but  not  delivered  to  the  care  of  their 
husbands,  until  their  physical  strength  admits  of-their  per- 
forming those  laborious  duties,  which  are  considered  indis- 
pensably necessary  in  every  woman  who  assumes  the  con- 
jugal title.  An  aged  man  may  not  ^infrequently  be  seen 
surrounded  by  a  numerous  cavalcade  of  wives,  of  all  ages, 
from  ten  and  twelve,  to  thirty  or  forty,  one  of  whom  is  ap- 
pointed by  their  common  lord  as  governess  of  the  younger 
and  more  volatile. 

Mr*  Wilson,  in  describing  the  interview  which,  in  1833, 
took  place  between  the  missionaries,  and  the  neighboring 
kings  at  Cape  Palmas,  observes,  "  Even  the  royal  ladies 
were  not  exempt  from  servile  duties;  each  carried  a  chair 
for  her  noble  lord,  and  after  he  was  seated  took  any  that 


178       WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE     AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

chance  provided.     They  frere  young,  and  in  Africa  might 

he  called  beautiful As  soon  as  \vc  left  the  table,  each 

of  the  kings  picked  up  a  piece  of  bread  and  meat,  and 
passed  it  into  the  hand  of  his  lady.  Strringc  indeed  was 
it — and  revolting  to  my  feelings,  to  see  woman  placed  at 
the  foot  of  man — degraded  to  the  lowest  acts  of  servility." 

While  a  vague  belief  in  (he  existence  of  a  God  prevails 
among  the  various  African  tribes,  the  ideas  entertained  of 
him  are  wholly  uninfluential  in  producing  morality  of  con- 
duct; nay,  their  darkened  vision  appears  unable  to  form 
any  perception  of  the  beauty  of  virtue.  While  God  is  in 
a  certain  sense  acknowledged  as  the  Creator  of  all  things, 
the  devil  is  regarded  as  systematically  employed  in  mar- 
ring and  injuring  all  his  works.  It  is  imagined  that  his 
anger  may  be  deprecated  by  free  will  offerings.  They 
likewise  suppose  that  the  Creator  of  the  world  entrusts 
the  government  of  it  to  various  spiritual  deputies,  the 
favor  of  each  one  of  whom  is  to  be  conciliated  by  some 
magical  ceremony. 

The  condition  of  women,  unspeakably  ameliorated  by 
the  prevalence  of  the  Christian  religion,  has  been  rendered 
still  more  galling  and  (crrific'in  Africa,  by  some  of  the  very 
superstitions  which  to  her  benighted  children  supply  the 
place  of  religion.  One  of  the  avenging  demons,  whose 
mysteries  are  celebrated  in  Africa,  rs  an  object  of  terror 
to  the  native  negresses.  In  the  silence  of  the  night,  his 
orgies  are  kept  by  the  husbands,  and  a  man  disguised  in 
a  hideous  and  fantastic  manner,  raised  by  an  artificial 
crown  to  an  enormous  size,  personates  the  monster,  whose 
approach  to  the  villages  is  notified  by  barbarous  music, 
and  his  will  made  known  by  oral  communications,  and 
songs  more  nearly  approaching  to  savage  howls.  The 
unfortunate  women  who  may  have  chanced  to  offend  their 


WOMEN    IN   A    SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED   STATE.        179 

lords  during  the  preceding  year,  are  specially  designated 
by  the  demon,  and  wo  to  her  who  hears  her  name  sound- 
ed by  the  terrific  Mumbojumbo;  since  she  is  at  once  seiz- 
ed, and  the  punishment  prescribed  is  summarily,  and  most 
unsparingly  executed.  The  remonstrances  and  cries  of 
woman  prove  as  fruitless  in  averting  punishment  when 
Mumbojumbo  has  willed  it,  as  her  curiosity  has  been 
found  fatal  to  herself,  when  she  has  dared  to  penetrate 
his  mysteries.  Th'e  wife  of  one  of  the  kings,  having,  on  a 
certain  occasion,  by  dint  of  persuasion,  drawn  from  her 
husband  the  mystic  secret,  was  made  to  forfeit  her  own 
life,  as  well  as  entail  dqath  on  her  companions  in  the 
bonds  of  polygamy,  in  order  to  serve  as  an  example  of 
female  presumption,  and  a  preventive  to  the  consequences 
which  might  ensue  to  tyrannical  husbands  from  enlighten- 
ed female  sagacity. 

Mungo  Park  describes  in  a  very  touching  manner,  the 
sufferings  of  Nealee,'  one  of  the  negro  females  belonging  to 
the  caravan  to  which  he  was  attached  in  a  part  of  his  Afri- 
can tour.  When  the  poor  creature  was  attacked  by  pain- 
ful indisposition,  she  was  merely  pelieved  from  the  heavy 
barden  which  it  is  the  task  of  her  sex  to  bear  for  man 
under  the  boning  sun  of  a  tropical  clime.  Subsequently 
the  caravan  was  attacked  by  a  swarm  of  bee?,  which  dis- 
persed the  company  in  every  direction.  When  they  were 
again  collected,  it  was  ascertained  that  Nealee  was  miss- 
ing, and  when,  after  a  search,  she  was  discovered,  she  was 
in  a  recumbent  position  by  the  side  of  a  rivulet,  towards 
which  she  had  crept  to  shield  herself  from  the  attacks  of 
the  enraged  insects.  She  was,  however,  terribly  stung, 
and  her  aggravated  sufferings  were  so  severe,  that  she 
positively  refused  to  proceed,  declaring  she  would  rather 
at  once  die  and  end  her  misery.  Entreaties  were  employ- 


180      WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE   AND   SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

cd  to  move  her  from  her  purpose,  and  when  these  proved 
ineffectual,  threats  were  made  use  of,  and  finally  the  lash 
was  applied,  and  by  the  power  of  this  last  stern  monitor, 
she  was  compelled  to  drag  along  in  misery,  for  some  four 
or  five  hours  longer;  at  length  exhausted  nature  refused 
any  longer  to  sustain  her  trembling  steps,  and  she  sank 
exhausted  on  the  ground.  The  whip  was  again  resorted 
to,  but  in  vain;  and  she  was  fixed  on  the  ass  which  carried 
the  provisions,  but  not  being  able  to  sit  erect,  the  animal, 
chafed  and  restless,  refused  to  bear  his  load.  The  sufferer 
was  now  arranged  in  a  litter  and  carried  till  the  caravan 
stopped  for  the  night.  On  the  morrow,  Nealce's  limbs, 
stiffened  by  disease  and  brutal  chastisement,  rendered  her 
unable  to  walk  or  even  stand.  The  restive  animal  refused 
to  bear  her  heavy,  death-like  form;  her  companions  pro- 
voked beyond  endurance  by  the  interference  frith  their 
selfish  plans,  extended  no  sympathy  to  her,  but  with  a 
universal  shout  exclaimed, ';  Cut  her  throat,  cut  her  throat." 
Mr.  Parke  in  horror  hurried  onward,  and  when  he  ventur- 
ed to  inquire  the  fate  of  the  unhappy  Ncalee,  as  her  gar- 
ments were  waved  on  the  bow  of  one  of  the  chieftain's 
slaves,  he  learned  that, — her  throat  had  not  been  cut, — 
but  she  had  been  left  on  the  road  to  the  mer*  of  the  wild 
beasts. 

These  poor,  benighted, oppressed  females, notwithstand- 
ing the  depth  of  their  social  degradation,  are  yet  found 
evincing  some  of  the  elements  of  a  moral  nature;  like  their 
own  Zahara,  they  present  to  the  eye  of  the  spectator  some 
verdant  cases,  which  serve  as  an  earnest  of  what  they 
might  become,  were  the  ennobling  truths  of  the  Gospel 
once  freely  permitted  to  circulate  among  them.  The  tes- 
timony borne  by  Parke,  Ledyard,  and  other  travellers  to 
the  tenderness,  sympathetic  kindness.and  warm  hospitality 


T7OMEN    IN    A   SAVAGE   AND   SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.        181 

•of  the  African  females,  is  probably  familiar  to  most  of  my 
readers,  and  I  need  not  cite  the  touching  language  in 
which  theip  verdict  is  given.  The  mothers  are  described 
by  most  impartial  travellers  as  manifesting  great  tender- 
ness for  their  offspring,  and  though  their  maternal  feelings 
are  generally  discoverable  in  anxiety  for  the  promotion 
of 'the  bodily  comforts  of  their  children,  this  inferior  de- 
velopment of  the  affections,  is  justly  referable  to  the  state 
of  social  and  moral  degradation,  under  which  they  have 
been  so  long  enchained .  The  heart  of  the  amiable  Mungo 
Park,  instinct  as  it  was  with  feeling,  was  readily  able  to 
detect  and  appreciate  such  manifestations  in  others;  and 
he  never  seems  more  at  home  on  African  soil,  than  when 
recording  facts  illustrative  of  the  sensibility  of  the  sable 
daughters  of  the  degraded  and  unjustly  despised  negro 
race.  At  Jumbo  he  beheld  an  affecting  spectacle;  an 
African  who  had  long  been  a  wanderer  from  hjs  native 
spot,  returned  to  his  humble  home  and  relatives.  His 
mother  heard  of  his  arrival,  and  in  blindness  and  helpless- 
ness, was  led  forth  to  greet  the  object  of  her  affections. — 
She  could  not  indeed,  behold  the  countenance  of  the  child 
she  loved;  but  she  clasped  him  in  a  tender  embrace,  and 
by  the  exercise  of  her  senses  of  touch  and  hearing,  she 
convinced  herselfof  the  wanderer's  identity.  She  tenderly 
passed  her  hands  over  his  limbs  and  features,  and  drank  in 
with  evident  delight  the  well  remembered  tones  of  his 
voice. 

It  has  been  the  privilege  of  the  writer  to  be  herself  con- 
vinced from  personal  acquaintance  with  many  of  the  un- 
happy daughters  of  Africa,  how  strong  and  enduring  are 
the  ties  of  natural  affection  in  their  breasts,  even  in  the 
the  land  of  their  bondage;  and  with  what  devotion  and 
gratitude  they  will  frequently  return  the  kindness  shown 

16 


182        WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

them  by  Ihe  families  with  whom  they  are  connected,  when 
treated  by  them  in  a  considerate  and  Christian  manner. 
In  my  infant  days  I  have  again  and  again  listened  with 
tearful  eyes,  to  the  artless  narrative  of  an  aged  domestic 
in  my  father's  family,  who  had  in  her  younger  days  been 
carried  away  by  a  ruthless  slave  dealer  from  her  home  and 
children  on  the  coast  of  Guinea.  She  lived  many  years 
with  my  grandparents,  and  had  been  the  attendant  of  most 
of  their  children,  and  after  my  father's  marriage,  the 
nurse  of  his  infancy  found  an  asylum  under  his  roof  until 
the  hour  of  her  death,  which  was  at  a  very  great  age. — 
When  advancing  years  and  infirmities  incapacitated  her 
from  service,  she  lived  the  cheerful  and  undisputed  sove- 
reign of  the  kitchen,  and  was  always  kindly  treated  by  the 
other  servants,  and  loved  by  her  master  and  mistress,  and 
their  children,  whose  affection  she  returned  with  equal 
tenderness.  When  the  hour  of  death  approached,  her 
bed  was  surrounded  by  those  she  loved,  and  the  last  offices 
of  kindness  were  performed  by  them;  her  remains  were 
treated  with  respect  and  affection,  and  interred  in  the  vil- 
lage churchyard,  where  those  she  had  served  and  loved, 
were  to  find  their  last  narrow  home:  and  when  earth  was 
committed  to  earth,  and  ashes  to  ashes,  tears  and  affec- 
tionate remembrance  embalmed  the  grave  of  .the  poor 
African  exile. 

We  have  glanced  at  ti>e  situation  of  the  females  of  many 
savage  nations,  and  have  seen  how  their  social  and  moral 
condition  is  fettered  and  trammelled.  Abject  and  degra- 
ded as  woman  has  been  rendered  in  the  scale  of  humanity, 
among  the  nations  of  Africa,  Australasia,  Polnesia,and  the 
North  American  Indians,  scarcely  less  melancholy  or  cheer- 
less is  her  state  in  China,  Hindoostan,  Burmah  and  other 
countries  which  present  a  partially  developed,  but  long 


WOMEN    IN    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       183 

established  civilization.  The  polytheism  so  generally 
prevalent  in  rude  and  barbarous  nations,  has  in  India 
among  the  more  enlightened,  been  displaced  at  times  by 
pantheism,  which  has  been  characterized  by  a  forcible 
modern  writer  as  "  but  an  intermediate  state  of  the  human 
mind,  composed  half  of  light  and  half  of  darkness,  and 
destined  to  disappear  before  the  full  day  of  truth  !*  The 
Hindoo*  and  Burmese  are  Intelligent  and  thinking  people; 
and  manyjof  them,  as.  well  as, of  the  Chinese,  seem  to  be 
to  a  certain  degree,  aware  of  the  advantages  accruing 
from  learning.  The  readers  of  the  interesting  biography 
of  the  lamented  Mrs.  Judson,  will  be  familiar  with  facts 
illustrative. of  the  intelligence  and  metaphysical  cast  of 
mind  observable  among  many  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Burmah. 

The  Chinese  nre  as  essentially  unique  in  their  physiog- 
nomy and  characteristic  traits,  as  in  their  social  institu- 
tions. The  national  mind  and  habits,  and  even  the  archi- 
tecture and  costume  of  the  people,  remain  rigidly  immo- 
vable. Neither  wealth  nor  rank  entitle  tiny  individual, 
unless  it  be  their  ruler,  "  the  son  of  heaven,"  or  his  im- 
mediate council,  to  the  privilege  of  exercising  his  taste  or 
personal  inclination,  even  in  themost  minute  circumstance 
of  common  life.  His  unimaginative  mind  needs  not  to  be 
taxed  to  vary  the  form  or  color  of  his  dress,  or  to  ornament 
his  dwelling  internally  or  externally,  law  has  legislated 
absolutely  on  all  such  point?,  and  the  Chinese  dares  not, 
or  dreams  not  that  ils  rigid  prescriptions  can  admit  of  de- 
viation. 

Budhism  is  the  established  religion,  and  learning,  limit- 
ed indeed  in  its  character  and  adapted  to  the  Chinese  no- 

\Douglass  on  the  advancement  of  society.    Part  Fourth. 


184          WOMEN  IN  A  SAVAGE  AND  SEMI-CIVILIZED  STATE. 

tions,  is  made  the  only  avenue  to  political  distinction. — 
But  a  system  of  religion  such  as  that  of  Boodh,  "whose 
radical  principle  is  the  absurdity  of  Atheism ,  whose  highest 
reward  is  virtual  annihilation,  whose  mos(  exhilirating 
hope  is  assimilatiion  to  a  stone  or  log,"  can  surely  never 
be  expected  to  prove  influential  in  the  practice  of  its  vo- 
taries. Polygamy  is  an  established  custom,  and  the  Chi- 
nese females  are  subjected  to  the  social  >and  moral  degra- 
dation which  inevitably  results  from  its  unrestricted  exer- 
cise. The  estimation  in  which  our  sex  is  held  by  the 
Chinese  nation,  may  be  inferred  from  the  dreadful  extent 
to  which  the  practice  of  female  infanticide  prevails,  nor 
does  the  government  attempt  by  legislative  enactments  to 
check  its  progress.  No!  the  life  or  destiny  of  this  portion 
of  the  population  of  the  celestial  empire,  is  considered  as 
of  too  trivial  importance  to  elicit  any  manifestations  of 
sympathy,  or  to  secure  any  legal  protection  from  the  rulers 
of  the  land,  who  think  it  not  beneath  their  dignity  to  legis- 
late on  the  color  or  pattern  of  man?s  costume,  or  on  the 
architecture  of  his  dwelling.  Barrow,  in  his  travels 
through  China,  represents  it  as  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the 
polke  of  Pekin,  to  employ  certain  persons  to  go  round  the 
city  at  an  early  hour  of  the  morning  with  carts,  to  collect 
the  bodies  of  the  murdered  babes  who  have  been  thrown 
into  the  streets  during  the  preceding  hours  of  the  night. 
While  the  little  ones  whose  birth-place  has  been  on  the 
waters  of  China,  find  their  last  dwelling  place  in  the 
depth  of  the  streams.  Mr.  Gutzlaff  more  than  once  alludes 
to  the  practice,  and  mentions  the  perfect  sang  froid  with 
which  his  remonstrances  were  answered  against  the  inhu- 
manity of  the  practice.  "  It  is  only  a  female"  was  to 
Chinese  consciences  a  sufficient  exculpation  of  the 
crime.  Among  the  people  of  Amoy,  he  informs  us, 


WOMEN    IX    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.        185 

"it  was  a  general  custom  to  drown  a  large  portion  of 
the  new-born  female  children;  and  the  unnatural  crime  is 
so  common  as  to~  be  perpetrated  without  any  feeling,  and 
even  in  a  laughing  mood." 

In  Ava  some  of  the  Baptist  missionaries  describe  the 
female  mind  as  being  kept  in  a  state  of  awful  degradation. 
From  early  infancy  they  are  systematically  taught  to  be- 
lieve.that  their  moral  nature  is  more  depraved  than  that 
of  the  other  sex,  and  their  minds  wholly  unsusceptible  of 
improvement.  So  far,indeed,  is  the  latter  opinion  carried, 
that  -it  is  even  considered  discreditable  for  one  of  the  sex 
to  be  able  to  read.  In  Burrnah,  when  a  female  dares  to 
aspire  to  such  an -advance  tibove  her  country-women  in 
mental  a'ttainm'ents,  she  is  uniformly  represented  as  full  of 
personal  vanity,  and  the  victim  of  an  unamiable  clamorous 
temper,-  The  higher  ranks  being  thus  arbitrarily  restrict- 
ed from  the  privileges  of  moral  and  intelligent  beings, 
spend  their  time <  in  animal  gratifications  and\  degrading 
indulgences. 

Nor  is  the  condition  of  woman  Jess  gloomy  or  cheerless 
among  the  imaginative  Hindoos.  In  India  tire  s.ex  in  very 
remote  ages,  were  held  in  considerable  estimation;  the 
oriental  "poet  was  not  (lien  reluctant  to  .celebrate  Jiec 
praises;  the  officer  of  justice  to  receive  her  testimony,  or 
the  sage  to  number  \\er  in  his  ranks; — now,  however,  her 
state  is  entirely  reversed.  In  India  the  intellect  of  the 
nation  appears  to  have  been  prostrated  under  the  iron 
rule  of  Brahma.  By  its  degrading  influences,  woman,  the 
deputed  moral  agent  of  her  God ,  is  niade  to  groan  in  cheer- 
less wretchedness;^  for  the  system  of  Brahma  is  wholly  un- 
like the  system  of  belief  recognized  in  revelation.  The 
Hindoo  female  enters  upon  her  sorrowful  career  uncheered 
by  the  smiles  of  natural  affection;  her  existence  is 

16* 


186      \VOMEX   IN   A   SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED   STATE. 

sidered  a  cause  of  disappointment,  if  not  a  subject  of  mur- 
muring and  chagrin.  Sometimes  her  delicate  infant  frame 
is  given  for  nourishment  to  the  rapacious  beasts  of  the 
ibrests,  or  to  the  devouring  jaws  of  the  alligator.  Marri- 
age is  sought  for  those  whose  lives  have  been  spared,  as  a 
relief  from  the  burden  of  their  maintenance,  and  after  they 
have  been  purchased  by  their  husbands,  they  are  consider- 
ed by  them  in  the  light  of  menials,  and  forbidden  to  address 
1hem  by  name  under  severe  penalties.  Although  the 
enlightened  policy  of  an  English  governor  abolished  the 
sanguinary  rite  of  the  suttee,  the  practice  still  continues 
in  part  of  India;  and -myriads  of  the  unhappy  widows  ol 
Hindoostan  have  terminated  their  lives  of  wretchedness  on 
the  funeral  pile  of  those,  by. whom  in  life  they  were  neg- 
lected, despised  and  unloved. 

While  gazing  on  a  dark  and  lurid  sky,  and  beholding  thv 
gloom  and  desolation  resting  on  the  face,  of  nature,  how 
''xhilirating  is  it  to  observe  the  bright  beams  of  the  sun 
again  appearing  irradiating  every  every  object  with  beauty, 
gilding  with  mellow  light.alike  the  hiimble  shrubs.and  the 
lofty  trees  of  the  forest.  Still  more  rapturous  is  the  spec- 
tacle presented,  when  nations  who  have  been  clothed  with 
moral  darkness,  and  debased  in  the  scale  of  being,  sud- 
denly hear  the -glad  tidings  of  salvation,  and  emerge  from 
Iheir  benighted  condition.  Blessed  be  God!  this  joyful 
."ight  has  not  been  of  unfrequent  occurrence  in  the  last  hall 
century. 

The  holy  and  laborious  missionaries,  Eliot  and  Brainerd, 
devoted  themselves  with  apostolic  zeal  to  the  conversion 
of  the  Indiaus  of  New-York,  New-England,  New-Jersey, 
?m<l  Pennsylvania,  and  their  labors  of  love  and  self-denying 
exertions  were  emulated  by  a  host  of  faithful  Moravians  in 
by-gone  years;  and  by  others  of  different  denominations 


WOMEN    IX    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       187 

Curing  the  present  century.  Although  we  read  of  no  such 
universal  relinquishment  of  idolatry,  as  was  exhibited  in 
Polynesia,  yet  has  there  been  a  glorious  band  gathered  by 
the  instrumentality  of  these  various  co-workers  for  God, 
which  will  hereafter  tell  brightly  on  the  eternal  destinies 
of  many,  a  redeemed  soul.  The  account  which  the  holy 
Brainerd  gives  of  his  people,  as  he  delights  to  call  the  In- 
dians, of  Cross  weeksung,  now  corrupted  to  Crossurcks  in 
New- Jersey,  a  re  replete  with  interest  to  pious  readers,  and 
prove  how  much  may  be  done  by  one  .faithful  devoted 
Christian,  honored  with  the  presence  of  the  Comforter 'in 
his  labors.  When  he-  preached,  therevreas  scarce  an  un- 
moistened  eye  to  be  seen  among  the  children  of  the  forest 
who  crowded  around  him;  and  when  he  left  them,  they 
wept  in  bitterness  of  spirit,  fpr  "their  father's  loss." — 
Catharine  Brown's  memory  would  alone  serve  to  convince 
a  dispassionate  mind  of  the  blessedness  which  Christianity 
eran  confer  on  the  Indian  females  of  America;  but  happily 
the  beauty  of  holiness  has  been  shown  forth  in  others  of 
her  nation  in  its  different  tribes;  though  by  none  with 
more  purity,  consistency,  and  loveliness,  than  by  this  gentle 
daughter  of  the  intelligent  Cherokee^. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  San4wich-Isles,  it  is  well  known, 
in  an  unprecedented  manner  in  the  year  1619,  cast  away 
their  idols,  without  any  suggestions  having  been  offered 
by  Christians,  and  while  "  waiting  for  the  law,"  in  fulfil- 
ment of  Isaiah's  prophecy,  actually  received  the  first  visit 
from  the  devoted  band  of  American  Missionaries  who  have 
subsequently  labored  so  faithfully  among  them,  and  in  their 
exertions  have  been  so  abundantly  blessed.  Taheite,  too, 
like  these  sister-isles  and  many  others  of  the  Indian  Archi- 
pelago, have  received  the  visits  of  God's  ministering  ser- 


180       WOMEN    IN- A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-ClViLlZED    STATE.. 

vants,  and  her  palmy  groves  now  re-echo  on  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  the  sound. of  the  village  bell, 

"  Sweet  emblem  of  Uie  call  of  God." 

And  her  sons  and  daughters,  clad  in  neat  and  modest  appa- 
rel, may  now  be  seen  on  that  holy  day,  bending  their  foot- 
steps towards  the  house  of  prayer;  and  uniting  together 
in  fervent  devotion  around  Hie  table  of  their  Lord.  Al- 
most all  of  .them  carry  in  their  hands  a  copy  of  such  por- 
tions of  Scripture  as  have  been  translated  into  their  mother 
tongue,  and  a  book. of  hymns. 

The  influence  of  Christianity  in  elevating  the  women  of 
Polynesia  iVom  (he  state  of  debasement  to  which  heathen- 
ism had  subjected  them,  is  feelingly  noticed  by  the  Rev. 
C.  S,  Stewart,  in  his  visit  to  Hido.  one  of  ihc  Sandwich 
Islands.  After  describing  the  public  solemnities  of  a  Sab- 
bath a"t  Hido,  and  the  aspect  of  the  congregation  gene- 
Willy,  which  consisted  of  thousands  of  individuals,  he  con- 
tinues,— "  Thc.aspcct  of  one  at  least  1  can  never  forget 

It  was  a  diminutive,  old  woman  shrivelled  by  age,  till  little 
more  of  her  figure, .with  an  appearance  of  health,  was  left, 
than  skin  and  bone.  .  The  *rlyle  of  her  features,  however, 
was  of  the  regular -and  pleasing  kind  found  among  the 
islanders,  with  an  amiable  and  benignant  expression,  which 
in  connection  with  an  entirely  whitened  head,  exacted 
from  the  observer  a  look  of  kindness  in  return.  Folded 
in  a  large  mantle  of  black  tapa,  she  was  leaning,  when  my 
eye  first  fell  upon  her,  against  a  pillar  near  the  pulpit,  be- 
side which  she  was  sitting  wilh  her  head  inclined  upwards, 

and  h^r  eyes  fixed  on  the  preacher. there  was  not  only 

a  seriousness,  but  a  deep  pensivcness,  in  her  whole  aspect 
that  riveted  my  attention;  a  tear  was  seen  occasionally  to 
start  ,in  her  eye,  and  more  than  oi\e  made  its  way  down 


WOMEN    IN   A  SAVAGE   AND   SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       189 

her  deeply  wrinkled  cheeks,  upon  her  mantle After 

some  time  this  sentence  was  uttered:  '  We  are  all  sinners 
— but  we  have  a  God  and  Saviour,  who  will  forgive  us  our 
sins,  if  we  ask  it  of  him.  It  is  our  duty  to  pray  to  God 
for  this — and  He  hears  the  prayers  of  those  who  approach 
him  in  sincerity.'  I  happened  again  to  look  on  this  object 
— her  attitude  and  aspect  -were  the  same,  except  that  her 
lips  moved  in  the  evident  and  almost  audible  repetition  of 

the  sentence as  she  did  so,  a  bright  and  peaceful  smile 

passed  over  every  feature — tears  gushed  rapidly  from  her 
eyes,  and  she  hid  her  face  in  the  folds  of  her  garment.'' 

IS  or  was  this  a  solitary  case.  Many  of  the  once  heathen 
daughters  of  Polynesia  and  Australasia,  have  been  raised 
to  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God;  theirqueens 
have  literally  become  "  the  nursing  mothers"  of  the  church 
of  God;  and  some  of  the  former  priestesses  of  Pele,  who 
liad  been  accustomed  to  deceive  the  ignorant  people  of  the 
isles  by  pretensions  to  supernatural  powers,  have  been 
transformed  by  the  Holy  Spirit' into  firm  and  consistent 
believers  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  meek,  docile,  and  intelli- 
gent pupils  of  the  missionary  schools.  The  boudoir 
of  the  princesses  of  the  Sandwich  Isles  may  now  be  seen 
ornamented  with  elegant  writing  tables  and  books,  among 
which  the  Gospel  in  the  Hawaiian  version  shines  conspic- 
uous; nor  are  these  indications  of  literary  and  scriptural 
tastes  merely  for  appearance,  the  escritoire  and  books  are 
both  regularly  used. 

The  duties  of  the  conjugal  and  maternal  relations  are 
now  recognized  and  practiced;  and  woman  no  longer  ex- 
cluded by  tabu,  has  become  the  companion,  and  frequently 
the  instructress  and  protectress  of  man. 

Among  the  first  converts  of  Burmah  have  been  number- 
ed some  of  her  daughters,,  who  by  the  Spirit  of  GodhaK-. 


190      WOMAN    IN    A    SAVAGE    AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE. 

ing  been  convicted  of  sin,  no  longer  need  their  stern  and 
harsh  masters  to  instruct  them  in  this  salutary  truth,  but 
have  gone  in  their  vilencss  and  pollution  to  the  fountain 
opened  to  believers,  and  having  washed  therein,  have 
come  forth  no  more  deformed  by  the  leprosy  of  sin,  but 
with  their  souls  cleansed  from  its  guilt; — some  of 
these  are  now  walking  as  consistent  believers  on  earth, 
while  others  have,  with  their  beloved  female  teacher,  join- 
ed the  church  triumphant  in  heaven. 

Many  of  the  women  of  Hindoostan  have  also  heard  of 
late  years  the  Messed  sound  of  the  Gospel,  and  not  a  few 
have  embraced  the  joyful  offers  of  God's  ministers;  mo- 
thers and  daughters  kneeling,  side  by  side,  have  with  tears 
supplicated,  and  with  thankfulness  received  the  rite  of 
initiation  into  the  Christian  church;  and  have  subsequently 
encircled  the  table  of  the  Lord;  even  now  the  hearts  of 
Christians  are  cheered  by  the  hope  that  the  females  of 
India  may  ere  long  be  released  from  the  tyrannical  yoke 
of  their  false  priests  and  social  institutions;  the  widow 
may  lengthen  out  her  existence  uncontcmned  by  man  and 
the  female  infants  may  realize  the  truth  of  those  beautiful 
lines  of  one  of  their  own  poets: 

"  When  born  in  tears,  we  saw  thee  drowned 
While  thine  assembled  friends  around 

With  smiles  their  joy  confessed. 
So  live  that  at  thy  parting  hour 
They  may  the  tears  of  sadness  pour 

And  thou  in  smiles  be  dressed." 

Within  the  last  two  years  the  sympathies  of  the  Chris- 
tian communities  of  the  eastern  and  western  hemisphere 
have  been  powerfully  excited  by  the  persecutions  of  the 
native  converts  of  Madagascar;  and  to  African  women  has 
been  awarded  the  honor  of  having  one  of  their  number. 


WOMAN    IN    A    SAVAGE   AND    SEMI-CIVILIZED    STATE.       191 

the  heroic  "  Rasalama,  enrolled  as  the  proto-martyr  of 
Madagascar;"  and  long  will  that  name  continue  embalm- 
ed with  fragrance  in  the  memory  of  those  who  love  the 
Saviour's  cause. 

The  once  degraded,  but  simple-hearted  Hottentot  has 
been  baptized  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  rising  from  her 
former  state  of  moral  and  social  degradation,  may  be  seen 
sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  to  learn  the  path  of  duty,  and 
to  obey  his  pure  and  ennobling  precepts.  May  the 
daughters  of  this  highly  favored  land  imitate  their  example ! 


CHAPTER     X  . 

WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES. 

While  attempting  to  sketch  the  portraiture  of  woman, 
from  various  points  of  view,  it  is  reasonable  that  we  should 
pause  for  a  few  moments,  to  glance  at  her  position  in  that 
important  division  of  the  moral  world,  which  has  heen  de- 
tached in  a  peculiar  manner  from  the  rest  of  humanity,  by 
the  instrumentality  of  one  man, — the  prophet,  prince,  and 
warrior-chief  of  Arabia. 

The  mind  of  Mahommed  was  naturally  of  a  strong  and 
imaginative  cast.  Disposed  from  his  constitutional  tempera- 
ment, to  indulge  in  contemplative  pursuits,  the  circum- 
stances of  his  birth  and  station  precluded  the  indulgence 
of  his  favorite  tastes, — and  his  ambitious  spirit  could  pro- 
pose to  itself  no  brighter  visions,  than  might  be  realized  by 
the  leader  of  a  caravan, — or  in  other  words,  by  a  travelling 
merchant.  But,  in  an  unexpected  moment,  and  from  a 
quarter  towards  which  his  hopes  had  probably  not  been 
directed,  Mahommed  was  destined  to  find  the  means  of  a 
personal  aggrandizement,  most  wonderful  in  kind  and  de- 
gree, and  to  acquire  an  influence  over  his  fellow-creatures, 
most  extraordinary  and  enduring.  Far  more  so  indeed, 
than  had  been  probably  pictured  in  the  brightest  visions  of 
ideal  enjoyment,  that  ever  floated  before  the  mind's-eye 
of  the  youthful  son  of  Abdallah,  as  he  led  on  his  caravan 
year  after  year  from  Mecca  to  those  other  cities  of  the  east 
which  were  the  great  marts  of  his  countrymen. 


WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES.  193 

Having  entered  the  service  of  Khadijah,  a  rich  widow 
of  Mecca,  as  her  factor,  she  had  frequent  opportunities  of 
noting  the  graces  of  his  person  and  manners,  as  well  as  of 
detecting  his  intellectual  vigor  and  native  eloquence;  in 
seeing  these,  she  saw  sufficient  as  she  thought,  to  justify 
her  in  elevating  Mahommed  from  his  subordinate  post,  as 
her  mercantile  agent,  to  a  station  which  enabled  him  to 
rank  as  the  equal  of  the  most  opulent  men  of  his  native 
city; — she"  made  him  her  husband,* — the  participator  of 
her  fortune,  and  the  master  of  her  destinies. 

Hagar,  the  despised  bond-woman  of  Egypt,  as  the  pa- 
rent of  Ishmael,  was  destined  by  the  permission  and  pre- 
diction of  God,  to  be  the  mother  of  a  great  nation," — the 
progenitor  of  princes.  Khadijah,  the  wealthy  widow  of  a 
merchant  of  Mecca,  became  as  the  wife  of  Mahommed,  the 
instrumental  cause  under  Providence,  of  the  rise  of  a  reli- 
gion, which  was  prophesied -of  emblematically  in  Scrip- 
ture, under  the  figure  of"  a  star  falling  from  heaven  to  the 
earth."  When  respect  is  had  to  the  circumstances  under 
which  thecreedof  the  prophet  of  Mecca  was  promulgated; 
the  doctrines  aad  precepts  which  it  enjoined^ — and  the 
hold  it  was  destined  to  have  on  the  spiritual  destinies  of 
millions  of  immortal  beings,  the  emblem  will  appear  ex- 
ceedingly appropriate  under  which  it  was  pourtrayed  in 
the  book  of  Revelations,  centuries  before  its  appearance 
in  this  world. 

Had  not  Khadijah  by  elevating  Mahommed  to  rank  and 
opulence,  released  him  from  the  cares  of  business,  and 
thus  permitted  him  to  enjoy  a  part  of  the  privileged  im- 
munities of  oriental  luxury, — leisure  for  retirement — it 
seems  more  than  probable  that  his  enthusiastic  passion 
for  solitary  and  meditative  abstraction,  would  never  have 
been  allowed  unlimited  scope; — and  consequently,  that 

17 


194  WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES. 

from  the  quiet  depths  of  an  Arabian  grotto,  would  never 
have  issued  those  alleged  revelations  with  which  he  first 
fascinated  the  mind  of  the  admiring  Khadijah,  and  sub- 
sequently that  of  his  friend  AH,  and  his  slave  Seid.  The 
judgment  of  woman,  blinded  by  admiring  affection,  was 
then  put  to  a  most  responsible  exercise.  Had  the  religion 
of  Mahommed  in  its  incipient  state,  been  repressed  by 
sound,  scriptural,  and  yet  perfectly  feminine  advice,  from 
the  lips  of  her  to  whose  ear  the  embodying  of  his  fervent 
imagination  was  first  submitted; — what  might  not  have 
been  the  consequences  to  the  destinies  of  myriads  of  our 
race? 

Thus  the  ill-judged  commendations  of  the  first  and  most 
beloved  of  the  wives  of  Mahommed,  encouraged  him  in 
the  indulgence  and  promulgation  of  his  enthusiastic  reve- 
ries, until  what  was  first  communicated  in  fragmentary 
portions  to  the  domestic  circle,  was  spread  abroad  to  a 
larger  and  still  larger  auditory,  as  occasion  served; — and 
was  finally  digested  into  a  single  volume,  bearing  the  title 
of  the  Koran, — or,  the  reading. — that  is  to  say,  what  is 
incumbent  on  all  mankind  to  read  for  their  own  improve- 
ment. 

At  the  time  of  Mahommed's  union  with  the  widow  of 
Mecca,  their  common  country  was  a  prey  to  the  grossest 
idolatry;  he,  however,  by  some  means,  had  been  convinc- 
ed of  the  unity  of  the  Godhead,  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  an  ardent  desire  to  dispel  the  gross  errors  in  the  reli- 
gious system  of  his  countrymen,  may  have  been  associated 
with  the  imaginative  exercises  in  which  he  was  wont  to 
indulge  for  more  than  ten  years,  in  his  favorite  cavern  near 
Mecca;  the  belief  in,  and  worship  of  a  Deity  in  unity,  is 
undoubtedly  a  fundamental  article  in  the  creed  which  he 
propounded  to  his  followers. 


WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEUAN    COUNTRIES.  195 

But  if  his  motives  in  the  first  entrance  on  his  work 
"were  not  altogether  unworthy  of  a  religious  reformer;*' 
when  encouraged  by  success  it  is  no  less  evident,  "  that  his 
ambition  increased,  while  his  motives  degenerated,  and 
the  successive  circumstances  of  his  mission  led  him  to  add 
to  his  spurious  revelations,  much  which  had  never  before 
entered  his  imagination."* 

It  would  be  irrelevant  to  my  present  subject,  to  attempt 
a  regular  sketch  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  Mahommedism, 
since  such  information  can  be  obtained  far  more  satisfac- 
torily from  other  sources.  My  object  is  rather,  briefly  to 
consider  the  practical  effects  produced  on  the  moral  con- 
dition of  the  female  sex,  by  the  extension  of  the  doctrines 
and  precepts  of  the  prophet  of  Arabia,  in  those  countries 
subjected  to  their  controlling  influence. 

Ft  is  not  uncommon  to  find  the  situation  of  Mahommedan 
females  represented  as  more  wretched  and  degraded,  than 
that  of  almost  any  other  portion  of  their  sex  in  the  world; 
but  I  apprehend,  that  in  forming  this  opinion,  we  do  not 
sufficiently  free  our  minds  from  the  bias  of  prejudice,  to 
allow  us  to  form  an  accurate  judgment. 

In  attempting  to  investigate  this  division  of  our  subject 
we  labor  under  great  disadvantage.  Philosophy  leaches 
us,  that  various  mental  processes  are  to  be  brought  into 
operation,  when  we  desire  to  elicit  the  truth  in  any  branch 
of  human  knowledge;  among  these,  the  first  is  to  make  a 

*  See  "A  view  of  the  ground-work  of  Mahommedism,"  introductory 
to  the  highly  interesting  "Narrative  of  a  tour  in  Turkey  and  Peisia" — 
by  Rev.  H.  Southgate.  To  this  valuable  work,  the  author  is  indebted 
for  information  on  the  present  state  of  Mahommedism,  and  defers  to  his 
judgment  on  a  subject,  where  our  means  of  information  are  so  limited, 
rather  than  to  the  works  of  other  modern  tiavellers,  since  bis  means  and 
opportunities  for  studying  his  subject,  were  unusually  favorable,  and  his 
intellectual  and  moral  character  such,  as  eminently  adapted  him  for 
forming  just  opinions  on  this  and  other  topics  embraced  in  his  journal. 


1 96  WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES. 

careful  collection  of  authentic  facts,  regularly  and  not  in- 
cidentally connected  with  the  subject,  before  we  can  pro- 
ceed to  deduce  general  principles  from  them.  Now  in 
allMahommedan  countries  the  females  are  far  more  rigidly 
secluded  from  intercourse  with  society,,  than  in  any  of  the 
modern  heathen  nations,  or  than  was  customary  among 
those  of  classical  antiquity.  This  circumstance  in  itself 
n.akes  it  very  difficult  for  us  to  collect  facts  in  sufficient 
number,,  and  of  the  requisite  degree  of  authenticity,  from 
which  to  form  our  opinions. 

It  is  well  known  that  after  Mahommed's  death,  his  fol- 
lowers were  divided  into  two  great  sects;  the  schism  be- 
tween which  originated,  in  dissentions  which  occurred  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  in  selecting  a  successor  to  him  in  the 
caliphate.  He  had  not  thought  proper  to  point  out  the 
individual  who  was  to  take  his  place,  and  his  followers 
fiercely  contended  whether  the  right  to  the  titles  and 
honors  of  the  departed  .prophet  were  to  be  decided  by 
election,  or  to  be  hereditary.  All  agreed  in  this  point, 
that  there  must  ever  continue  in  the  world,  a  prophet  of 
the  true  religion — a  vicar  of  God — to  exercise  both  tem- 
poral and  spiritual  jurisdiction.  But  one  party  earnestly 
contended  that  Abubekr,  the  father-in-law  of  Mahommed, 
was  entitled  to  fill  the  important  post  by  elective  decision, 
— while  the  other  as  obstinately  avowed  that  his  cousin  and 
son-in-law  Ali,  was  by  heriditary  right  empowered  to  rank 
a«  his  successor.  One  of  the  most  powerful  and  influen- 
tial champions  of  Abubekr  was  his  daughter  Ayesha,  the 
}oungest,  and  it  is  said  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  wives 
of  the  prophet;  while  on  the  other  hand,  Ali  strengthened 
himself  by  the  influence  of  Patima,  his  wife,  who  was  the 
daugiiter  of  Hadijah,  the  first  and  most  beloved  partner  of 
Muhommed.  Thus  female  influence,  nerved  by  female 


WOMEN    OF   MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES.  197 

jealousy  greatly  widened  the  schism  between  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  prophet ; — and  at  the  present  moment  Ma- 
hommedan  nations  in  a  body  follow  the  standard  of  one  or 
other  of  the  two  original  claimants  to  the  honors  of  the 
departed  head  of  their  faith,  under  the  names  of  the  Shiahs, 
and  Sunnitcs,  the  two  great  sects  of  Islam.  The  former 
include  the  Persians,  the  Mussulmans  of  Hindoostan,  and 
some  of  the  Tartar  nations, — while  the  latter  comprise  the 
different  Turkish  tribes,  and  the  Arabs  of  Arabia,  Syria, 
Egypt  and  northern  Africa. 

Independently  of  these  religious  animosities,  various  cir- 
cumstances have  conspired  to  throw  around  the  Sunnite 
Mahommedans  a  far  higher  tone  of  practical  morality,  than 
is  found  among  those  belonging  to  the  sect  of  the  Shiahs. 
The  Turks  descended  from  a  hardy  and  warlike  race,  ex- 
hibited very  different  elementsof  moral  character  on  which 
to  engraft  religious  sentiments,  from  the  effeminate  Per- 
sians, who  present  the  same  striking  traits  in  their  consti- 
tutional temperament,  which  mark  the  kliocyncraeies  ef  the 
rriental  nations  generally.  The  brave  and  simple  man- 
•ered  Afghans,  the  wandering  and  untamable  Arabs,  who 
have  never  bent  the  knee  to  any  foreign  potentate,  exhibit 
like  the  Turks  natural  diversities  of  character,  which 
render  them  in  the  recognition  of  the  Mahommedan  faith, 
essentially  unlike  the  neighboring  nations,  who  professing 
ostensibly  to  receive  the  same  creed,  embody  it  in  practice, 
in  a  manner  entirely  different. 

Since  my  design  is  to  seek  to  ascertain  the  place  which 
woman,  the  appointed  moral  agent  of  God,  sustains  under 
the  principal  religious  systems  whether  true  or  false,  which 
have  divided  the  generations  of  the  human  family.  I 
•hall,  in  order  to  place  the  subject  in  as  favorable  a  light 
as  possible,  make  my  observations  on  Mahommedan  women, 

17* 


"198  WOMEN   OF   MAHOMMEDJLN    COUNTRIES 

as  they  appear  when  viewed  on  Turkish  ground ;  since  that 
being  the  region  in  which,  from  various  circumstances,  the 
creed  of  Mahommedhns  been  rendered  most  influential  in 
inducing  habits  of  morality  among  the  people  at  large,  it 
follows  as  a  natural  consequence,  that  woman's  situation 
will  be  there  most  favorable  for  the  development  of  the 
influences  arising  from  the  national  religion. 

It  is  by  no  means  an  easy  task,  to  detach  one's  mind 
sufficiently  from  prejudice  and  from  early  and  long-continu- 
ed'associations,  to  be  able  to  form  an  accurate  judgment  of 
the  habits,  manners  and  condition  of  those,  whose  position 
in  society  in  all  important  particulars,  is  entirely  the  re- 
verse of  our  own.  How  then  shall  the  freeborn  daugh- 
ters of  America  be  able  to  comprehend  the  situation  of 
their  Turkish  sisters,  the  inheratives  indeed  of  a  common 
nature, — alike  guilty  and  condemned  in  the  sight  of  God, — 
but  in  scarce  one  feature  of  their  social  or  religious  con- 
dition exhibiting  any  common  or  coincident  points?  Of 
course,  except  in  a  few  instances,  we  are  constrained  to 
draw  our  facts  not  from  personal  observation,  but  to  receive 
them  on  the  testimony  of  others.  In  order  to  give  validity 
to  testimony,  confidence  must  be  reposed  in  the  veracity, 
judgment  and  intelligence  of  those  from  whom  it  is  receiv- 
ed, and  where  there  are  equally  to  be  found  in  two  wit- 
nesses, he  certainly  whose  opportunities  of  observation 
have  been  the  most  abundant  and  continued,  will  be  enti- 
tled to  receive  the  greatest  deference. 

Among  the  travellers  who  in  modern  times  have  favored 
us  with  observations  on  Turkey  and  its  inhabitants,  and  on 
their  national  religion,  few  appear  to  have  taken  as  much 
'pains  to  inform  themselves  on  these  points,  or  enjoyed  such 
advantages  for  so  doing,  as  our  pious  and  talented  country- 
men, the  Rev.  Mr.  Southgate.  He  had  studied  his  sub- 


WOMEN   OF    MAH03IMEDAN   COUNTRIES.  199 

ject  carefully,  and  has  evidently  formed  none  of  his  opin- 
ions without  previous  and  patient  investigation.  In  making 
himself  master  of  the  vernacular  tongue  of  Turkey,  he  of 
course  vastly  increased  his  facilities  for  accomplishing  the 
task  he  had  undertaken;  nor  did  he  rest  satisfied  with  a 
mere  attempt  to  do  justice  to  the  subject; — he  labored 
assiduously  and  on  principle  to  study  the  East,  not  with  a 
Western  mind,  but  with  his  faculties  so  far  enlightened  in 
the  knowledge  of  the  habits  and  manners  of  those  among 
whom  he  was  to  be  temporarily  a  resident,  that  he  might 
correct  his  errors  of  judgment,  and  misapprehension  of 
character,  by  the  broad  law  of  Christian  charity,  which 
seeks  to  enter  the  feelings  and  circumstances  of  others,  in 
order  that  it  may  judge  of  them,  as  it  would  wish  to  be 
judged  by  them. 

"  The  student  of  Islamism,"  he  informs  us,  "  will  often 
find  occasion  to  remark  that  it  holds  a  middle  place  be- 
tween Christianity  and  Paganism.  This  is  not  only  true 
of  its  doctrines,  which  in  some  points  approach  the  eminent 
spirituality  of  the  Bible,  and  in  others  border  upon  the 
fantastic  follies  of  heathenish  superstition,  but  its  precepts 
also  partake  throughout  of  the  same  mingled  character. 
Thus  it  is  with  the  rank  and  duties  which  it  assigns  to  wo- 
man. It  neither  exhibits  the  elevating  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity, nor  the  degrading  tendencies  of  idolatry.  It  raises 
her  above  the  rank  which  any  other  system,  excepting  our 
own  has  ever  assigned  her,  but  it  leaves  room  for  much  high- 
er  improvement.  The  institutions  of  Mahommed  in  this 
particular  are  worthy  only  of  praise.  The  remark  may 
create  surprise,  but  I -do  not  utter  it  incautiously.  We 
are  not  to  judge  of  the  false  prophet  of  Islamism  by  our 
own  standard,  but  by  that  which  he  had  before  his  own 
eyes.  He  was  an  Arab,  born  a  Pagan.  The  religion  in 


200  WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAH    COUNTKIXS. 

which  he  was  nurtured  was  as  unfavorable  in  its  influence 
upon  woman,  as  any  form  of  heathenism  that  ever  existed. 
It  was  throughout,  debasing  and  polluting.  He  undertook 
its  reform.  He  raised  the  Arab  female  from  her  degrada- 
tion. He  made  distinct  provision  for  her  relief  from  many 
of  the  wicked  prejudices  to  which  she  had  been  subjected. 
The  evils  which  he  could  not  remove  he  suffered  to  re- 
main*. They  re-appear  on  the  pages  of  the  Koran,  but 
they  are  not  original  there.  They  are  only  copies  trans- 
ferred from  the  immemorial  usages  of  his  people.  He 
tolerated  them,  but  he  did  not  create  them.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  most  instances  he  implicitly  condemns  while  he 
allows  them.  Thus  he  gives  permission  to  husbands  to 
chastise  their  wives  if  disobedient;  but  he  recommended 
at  the  same  time,  that  they  avoid  all  causes  of  quarrel. 
Divorce  too,  though  allowed,  is  strongly  disapproved. 
Reconciliation  is  pronounced  preferable  to  separation,  and 
meditation  is  set  before  chastisement.  Even  here  is  im- 
provement, the  design  being  to  abate  evils  which  probably 
could  not  be  remedied. 

In  permitting  females  to  inherit  property,  and  in  his 
regulations  for  providing  them  with  dowries,  Mahommed 
advanced  upon  the  polished  and  refined  Greeks  and  Ro- 
mans; who  instead  of  bestowing  settlements  upon  their 
wives,  were  reluctant  as  we  have  seen  even  to  permit  their 
female  relatives,  the  privilege  of  receiving  a  pecuniary 
provision  from  their  own  fathers  by  will.  The  polished 
but  sensual  Greek  or  Roman  could  with  impunity  divorce 
»ne  innocent  wife  to  make  way  for  her  more  favored  rival, 
or  like  Pericles,  or  some  of  the  renowned  sons  of  Rome, 
proceed  still  farther  and  violently  wrest  the  beautiful  and 
attached  partners  of  others  from  their  domestic  sanctuaries 
to  gratify  the  impulses  of  impassioned  and  guilty  feeling;— 


WOMAN    CP   MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES.  201 

while  the  founder  of  Islamism  forbade  husbands  to  have 
recourse  to  harsh  treatment  in  order  to  compel  their  wives 
to  seek  divorces;  and  on  the  contrary,  enjoined  that  they 
should  treat  them  with  all  tenderness.  "  If  yf  hate  them," 
saith  the  prophet,  "  it  may  happen  that  ye  shall  hate  that 
in  which  God  has  placed  much  good.'1 

The  Koran  offers  no  sanction  to  the  prevalent  opinion, 
that  the  Mahommedans  exclude  from  women,  the  hope  of 
entrance  into  future  blessedness,  for  its  author  asserts, 
that  "  whoso  worketh  good,  male  or  female,  shall  enter 
paradise;"  and  he  enjoined  the  pilgrimage  to  Mecca  which 
is  believed  to  be  so  instrumental  in  securing  that  happiness, 
both  upon  males  and  female?,  he  likewise  enforced  equally 
on  the  twa  sexes,  other  fundamenlal.obli^ations  of  his  re- 
ligion. With  regard  likewise  to  the  exclusion  of  females 
from  places  of  public  worship;  the  prohibition  is  unfter- 
stood  to  have  arisen,  not  from  a  belief  that  their  souls  were 
incapable  of  religious  enjoyment,  or  of  receiving  religious 
instruction, — an  opinion  which  I  have  before  remarked 
^  has  prevailed  very  generally  among  heathen  nations,— 
but  as  a  preventive  to  the  two  sexes  meeting  in  sacred 
places,  which  was  deemed  highly  inexpedient.  A  female 
may  enter  the  mosques,  however,  to  perform  her  devotions, 
u  lien  the  male  worshippers  have  withdrawn.  On  this 
ground,  the  women  of  Mahommedan  countries  stand  nearly 
on  a  par  with  the  daughters  of  GodTs  ancient  people,  and 
with  those  of  the  Greek  and  other  Christian  churches  of 
the  east,  so  that  the  prohibition,  when  viewed  impartially, 
is  not  intended  to  throw  a  peculiar  degradation  over  Ma- 
hommedan females,  but  should  be  considered  rather  as 
one  of  the  distinctive  features  of  oriental  manners. 

Some  of  our  most  intelligent  and  highly  esteemed  modern 
travellers,  represent  the  Turkish  women,  with  the  excep- 


202  WOMEN    OF   MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES. 

tion  of  those  belonging  to  the  harems  of  the  Sultan,  and 
the  chief  dignitaries  of  the  empire,  as  enjoying  no  trifling 
degree  of  freedom  and  consideration.  Their  apartments 
are  indeed  detached  from  the  other  parts  of  the  house ;  and 
they  are  denied  liberty  of  access  to  those  belonginging  to 
their  male  relatives.  With  their  faces  nearly  covered 
with  the  ashmak,  and  their  figures  concealed  by  their  loose 
mantles,  the  females  of  Turkey,  however,  are  continually 
met  by  travellers  in  the  streets  and  bazaars  of  Constanti- 
nople, or  when  partaking  in  their  favorite  recreation  and 
excursion  on  the  waters  of  the  beautiful  Bosphorus, — and 
though  an  attempt  to  converse  with  them  would  be  proba- 
bly highly  resented  in  the  public  roads  throughout  the 
empire.  Whefi  thus  encountered,  their  gleeful  laughter 
and  girlish  light-heartedness  is  constantly  noted,  from 
which  circumstances  taken  in  conjunction  with  the  pre- 
scripts of  the  prophet  as  their  treatment,  we  are  warrant- 
ed in  believing,  that  their  social  condition,  as  it  had  expo- 
sed them  to  much  less  onerous  burdens,  so  has  it  also 
ensured  them  far  more  ofroorldly  happiness,  than  is  experi- 
enced by  the  degraded  females  of  pagan  lands. 

The  Mahommedan  law  indeed  permits  a  man  to  become 
the  husband  of  four  wives,  but  the  privilege  is  we  are 
assured,  not  frequently  taken  advantage  of,  and  polygamy 
as  a  general  custom  is  by  no  means  common  in  Turkey. 
And  that  the  Mahommedan  wife  is  not  the  enslaved  and 
uninfluential  being  which  by  many  she  is  supposed  to  be, 
seems  more  than  probable,  or  how  would  this  apothegem 
have  become  proverbial  in  Turkey,  as  we  are  assured  it  is, 
"A  woman  causes  the  ruin  or  prosperity  of  a  house." 

In  the  maternal  relation  also,  the  Turkish  female  is 
greatly  elevated  in  her  social  privileges  above  those  of  her 
sex  of  heathen  countries.  The  tender  affection  which  the 


WOMEN    OF    MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES.  203 

Mussulman  bears  for  his  mother,  has  been  frequently  re- 
marked by  travellers,  and  is  indeed  one  of  the  brightest 
points  in  his  character.  The  strongest  expressions  of  feel- 
ing elicited  from  him  are  exhibited  in  his  intercourse  with 
her  who  gave  him  birth;  he  ministers  to  her  happiness  in 
the  day  of  prosperity,  seeks  to  succor  her  with  as  much 
assiduity  as  his  constitutional  indolence,  will  permit,  in  the 
hour  of  adversity;  and  when  she  is  consigned  to  the  silent 
tomb,  though  by  his  creed  forbidden  to  assume  the  solemn 
symbols  of  wo,  he  is  yet  found  not  ashamed  to  manifest  that 
a  mother's  death  has  been  the  occasion  to  him  of  the  most 
deep  and  poignant  sorrow.  The  mother  too,  is  devoted 
to  her  children;  she  nourishes  them  at  her  own  bosom; — 
soothes  them  in  their  childish  sorrows; — enters  with  lively 
joy  into  their  sportive  amusements,  and  when  she  goes  on 
her  excursions  in  the  light  caique  up  the  Bosphorous,  her 
children  accompany  her  as  if  their  presence  was  a  neces- 
sary ingredient  to  her  enjoyment.  While  her, tearful  eyes 
and  assiduous  visits  to  the  cypress  groves  which  conceal 
their  departed  forms  from  sight,  attests  the  sincerity  with 
which  she  mourns  over  her  little  ones  when  death  snatches 
them  from  her  embrace. 

Until  the  youth  of  Turkey  reach  the  age  of  seven  or 
eight  years,  they  are  left  almost  exclusively  to  the  care  of 
their  mothers,  and  the  Koran  enjoins  their  children  to  treat 
them  with  dutiful  affection ;  and  this  privilege  of  maternal 
love  is  not  denied  even  to  her  whose  offspring  is  destined 
to  mount  the  throne  of  Constantinople.  The  day  on  which 
the  heir  apparent  of  the  Turkish  empire,  is  transformed 
from  the  tutelage  of  maternal  love,  to  that  of  his  male 
instructors,  is  made  the  occasion  of  a  fete  in  the  capital  of 
his  future  kingdom;  and  it  is  not  long  since  a  traveller 
from  a  Christian  land,  was  present  on  one  of  these  ocoa- 


204  WOMEN    OF   MAHOMMEDAN    COUNTRIES. 

sions.  and  gave  a  description  to  the  public  of  the  accom- 
panying ceremonies;  the  young  prince  and  the  assembled 
thousands  of  his  juvenile  cotemporaries,  formed  by  no 
means  the  least  interesting  part  of  the  spectacle. 

ft  may  be  asked,  why  we  thus  assidnously  endeavor  to 
place  the  Turkish  Mahommedan  female  upon  a  higher  level, 
than  those  of  her  sex  in  heathen  lands?  We  reply,  that 
it  is  important  to  our  subject  to  do  so.  This  land  of  oriental 
luxury,  enjoys  no  intellectual  advantages-,  the  days  of  lite- 
rary glory  have  long  since  passed  even  from  the  capital  of 
the  Turkish  empire:  and  if  woman  does  there  enjoy  any 
superiority  over  her  pagan  sisters,  it  must  be  simply  be- 
cause the  religious  system  of  her  country  is  superior  in  its 
doctrines  and  precepts  to  those  of  paganism.  This  will 
be  abundantly  evident  to  all  such  as  are  disposed,  calmly 
and  impartially,  to  study  the  symbols  of  faith  of  the  Sunneh 
Mahommedans,  at  set  forth  by  Mr,  Southgate.  • 

Far,  very  far  indeed,  was  the  dim  and  uncertain  light 
emitted  from  this  "  falling  star,"  from  vicing  with  the  deep, 
full  and  life-giving  radiance  of  the  Sun  of  Righteousness; 
and  consequently  immeasurably  superior  are  the  advan- 
tages enjoyed  by  the  humblest  Christian  female,  over  the 
noblest  and  fairest  of  her  sex  under  the  reign  of  Islam; — 
but  although  the  beams  of  the  solar  luminary  can  alone 
communicate  vitality,  yet  can  the  planet  which  has  receiv- 
ed illumination  from  him,  cast  forth  a  moderate  but  still  a 
perceptible  light  in  the  absence  of  the  sun;  and  so  we  be- 
lieve does  the  creed  of  Mahommed  diffuse  a  higher  mea- 
sure of  morality  around  it,  than  do  the  false  systems  of 
paganism,  because  it  does  approach  much  nearer  the 
truths  of  Revelation,  than  any  of  them  have  ever  done. 


CHAPTER     XI. 

WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY. 

Daniel  in  the  exercise  of  his  prophetic  office,  was  on  one 
occasion  summoned  to  the  magnificent  presence-chamber 
of  the  Babylonish  monarch,  to  unfold  the  mysteries  of  those 
visions  which  had  so  appalled  the  imagination  of  the  latter 
as  to  drive  sleep  far  from  his  luxurious  couch.  In  the 
execution  of  the  duty  required  from  him,  the  man  of  God, 
after  exhibiting  graphic  sketches,  in  which  the  prophetic 
histories  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  empires,  were  sum- 
med up  in  striking  epitomes, — proceeded  to  inform  his 
royal  auditor,—4'  that  in  the  waning  days  of  those  empires, 
the  King  of  Heaven  would  set  up  a  kingdom,  which  should 
never  be  destroyed;"  and,  moreover  that  this  new  domin- 
ion was  not  to  be  left  to  other  people,  but  was  to  consume 
and  break  them  all  to  pieces— and  was  u  tostand  forever."' 

This  prediction  has  been  fulfilled  in  a  remarkable  man- 
ner during  a  long  lapse  of  centuries;  and  with  our  own 
eyes  we  may  now  behold  (his  kingdom  standing  forth  to 
view,  with  its  colossal  feet,  the  one  of  which  is  planted 
firmly  on  the  shores  of  Europe,  which  are  laved  by  the 
billows  of  the  broad  Atlantic,  as  its  crested  waves  rush 
eastward; — while  the  other  is  no  less,  resolutely  fixed  on 
the  coast  of  the  American  continent — to  (he  Babylonish 
monarch, — a  terra  incognita, — on  whose  strand  the  same 
ocean  is  dashed  on  its  returning  tide. 

The  principal  conquests  of  Rome  had  been  achieved 

18 


206  WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE   CHRISTIANITY. 

during  the  period  of  her  republican  existence; — and  when 
Augustus  Cesar  presided  over  her  destinies,  he  had  the 
wisdom  to  perceive,  that  it  was  his  best  policy,  to  endeavor 
to  preserve  the  glories  of  his  country  by  peace,  instead  of 
seeking  to  extend  her  power  by  the  uncertain  chances  of 
war.  The  rigid  manners,  stern  integrity  and  comparative 
purity  of  the  ancient  Romans,  had  been  superseded  by 
habits  of  efleminacy  and  corruption  of  morals,  both  public 
and  private.  And  when  freed  from  the  dread  of  the  in- 
cursion of  foreign  foes,  the  ungrateful  Romans,  partially 
instructed  as  they  were  by  the  voice  of  conscience,  and  the 
dim  light  of  reason,  in  the  knowledge  of  the  existence  and 
perfections  of  one  Supreme  God,  "  yet  glorified  him  not  as 
God,"  in  their  moral  conduct,  neither  were  they  thankful 
for  the  great  national  blessings  which  had  been  granted  to 
them;  "  (hey  became  vain  in  their  imagination,  and  their 
foolish  hearts  were  darkened:  professing  themselves  wise 
they  became  fool?."  And  while  the  polished  and  intellec- 
tual Greeks  and  Romans  were  involved  in  such  deep  spi- 
ritual darkness,  of  the  remaining  portion  of  the  globe  at 
the  same  era  unvisited  by  divine  revelation,  it  might  em- 
phatically be  said,  that  darkness  covered  them  and  gross 
darkness  their  inhabitants. 

At  that  eventful  crisis  in  the  history  of  our  world,  "  the 
desire  of  all  nations," — the  Redeemer  of  our  fallen  and 
guilty  race,  came  down  from  the  glories  of  heaven,  to  visit 
us  in  great  humility;  and  after  dying  for  our  sins,  and 
rising  again  for  our  justification,  ascended  to  his  throne  in 
his  Father's  kingdom,  and  entrusted  to  his  commissioned 
apostles  and  their  successors  the  work  of  evangelizing  the 
world. 

During  the  preceding  periods  of  this  world's  history, 
various  attempts  had  been  made  to  civilize,  refine  and 


WOMEN   6F   PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIANITY.  20? 

remodel  the  face  of  society.  Learning  and  human  phi- 
losophy had  been  tasked  to  the  utmost,  and  as  yet,  scarce 
any  thing  effectual  had  been  accomplished.  But  when 
the  Gospel  of  Jesus  was  promulgated,  the  most  remarka- 
ble changes  were  soon  made  manifest.  The  commission 
which  our  Lord  delivered  to  his  disciples  was  diverse  in  its 
form  and  tenor  from  that  of  the  most  enlightened  heathen 
philosophers.  "  This  is  my  commandment,"  it  declared, 
**  that  ye  love  one  another,  as  I  have  loved  you" — and 
again  it  reiterated  with  impressive  earnestness, — "these 
things  I  command  you,  that  ye  love  one  another."  If  the 
passions  of  mankind  were  subdued,  their  enmities  over- 
come, their  habits  transformed — by  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel,  this  was  the  secret  of  the  change;  it  held  up  to 
view  a  Saviour  in  all  the  fulness  and  wonders  of  his  love, 
and  in  the  extent  of  his  power  to  ransom  and  to  bless. 
Those  who  heard  these  tidings  had  natures  constituted  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  intelligence  received  by  them  of  a 
Saviour  from  the  guilt  and  power  of  sin,  generated  within 
their  souls  desires  to  love  and  serve  him,  who  had  done 
so  much  for  them.  No  sooner  did  man  understand  that 
he  was  a  being  ransomed  by  the  love  of  another,  and  that 
one  infinitely  his  superior,  than  immediately  more  was 
effected  for  his  moral  interests,  than  the  wisest  and  most 
learned  human  teacher  had  ever  been  able  to  accomplish. 
Principles  entirely  new  were  brought  to  operate  upon  the 
heart,  and  withal  new  powers  were  infused  into  them;  a 
divine  instructor  was  sent,  a  Holy  Comforter  and  regene- 
rator of  the  depraved  nature  was  promised  to  all  who 
should  earnestly  and  sincerely  desire  it.  Nor  were  these 
privileges  and  these  blessing  to  be  restricted  to  one  natiou; 
the  Gospel  of  salvation  was  based  on  principles  common 
and  intelligible  to  the  whole  human  family;  woman  waa 


208  WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY. 

invited  as  freely  as  her  lord;  nay  her  Saviour  had  even 
condescended  to  woo  the  sex  as  it  were  with  urn-emitted 
assiduity;  he  had  declared  that  among  its  numbers  he 
would  find  his  "  mother  and  his*  Mbteis." 

Soon  the  doctrines  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  like  the 
rays  of  the  rising  sun.  irradiated  the  moral  universe.  His 
faithful  servants,  in  obedience  to  the  commands  of  their 
divine  Redeemer,  went  forth  joyfully  to  the  task,  to  every 
part  of  the  then  known  world,  bearing  the  glad  tidings  of 
salvation.  Idolatrous  heathens  who  had  been  previously 
groaning  under  the  cruel  bondage  of  superstition,  fell  their 
fetters  loosened,  and  themselves  made  free.  The  know- 
ledge of  I  he  one  true  God  and  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  was 
publicly  preached,  and  openly  professed  in  the  Grecian 
groves,  and  Peter  the  great  aposlie  of  his  Master,  '•  who 
by  his  courage  took  the  lead  of  all  the  rest,  was  coaduct- 
ed  to  Rome;"'  and  there,  "  like  a  noble  commander  of  God, 
fortified  by  divine  armor,  bore  the  precious  merchandize 
of  the  revealed  light  from  the  east  to  those  in  the  west, 
announcing  the  light  itself  and  the  salutary  doctrine 
of  the  soul;"*  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  great  capital j 
and  so  great  was  the  number  of  those  who  gave  cre- 
dence to  their  words,  and  submitted  themselves  as 
disciples  of  the  crucified  Jesus,  that  the  haughty  and 
tierce  emperors  of  Rome  became  alarmed,  dreading  a 
serious  defection  from  their  ranks,  and  one  after  another, 
were  not  ashamed  in  assuming  the  purple  robes  of  oflice, 
to  associate  with  the  insignia  of  royalty,  the  titles  of  enemy 
of  God,  and  persecutor  of  his  church. 

In  Alexandria,  Smyrnia  and  Antioch,  as  well  as  of  other 
places  of  note  both  in  Africa  and  Asia,  were  the  doctrines 

Chapter.  XIV. 


WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY.  260 

of  the  Gospel  publicly  announced,  and  gladly  received. — 
Gaul,  likewise,  was  soon  irradiated  with  the  same  heavenly 
light,  and  the  Rhone,  as  she  rolled  towards  the  Meditera- 
nean,  to  mingle  her  silvery  waters  with  the  blue  waves  of 
the  sea,  soon  saw  them  reddened  svith  the  blood  of  the 
Gaulish  converts. 

Widely  as  these  different  'nalions  had  been  estranged 
from  each  other,  white -Subjects  of  idolatry,  and  essentially 
as  they  had  differed  in  language,  manners  and  habits,  they 
no  sooner  enrolled  themselves  as  liege  servants  of  the  king 
of  Heaven, — ^as  disciples  of  Jesus, — than  they  became  one 
in  soul  and  spirit;  petty  dissensions  were  forgotten;  na- 
tional and  long  cherished  animosities  were  overcome;  the 
Gaul  and  Roman  united  in  the  bond  of  brotherly  love,  and 
by  a  common   faith  became  one  in  Christ.      The  same 
divine  standar'dof  faith  and  duty  was  received ; — the  same 
code  of  morals  adopted;  love  was  made  every  where  the 
test  of  discipleship  both  among  Jews  and  barbarians,  bond 
and  free.      The  once  lawless  Gauls — aiid  the  formerly 
fierce  and  simple  mannered  Germans. — as  well  as  the  en- 
lightened Greeks  and  Romans,  received  alike  the  same 
tenet  of  faith.-— -*'  that  in  Christ  Jesus  there  were  neither 
male  nor  female"- — but  all  were  to  be  one  in  him  who  is 
the  great  head  of  the  church.     Woman,  no  longer  a  de- 
graded, oppressed  and  despised  being,  was  now  received 
by  each  and  all  of  the  churches. of  her  Saviour  and  De- 
liverer, as  equally  with  man  rendered  by  faith  in  him,  "  a 
member  of  his  body,  of  his  flesh  and  of  his  bones."     No 
longer  was  she  regarded  as  a  mere  thing,  proscribed  from 
the  enjoyment  of  civil,  social,  or  spiritual  privileges;  sJie 
was  ranked  as  one  flesh  with  her  parner  in  the  marriage 
contract,  and  her  lord  was  reminded  that  he  was  to  love 
and  cherish  her,  even  as  himself, — nay,  more,  with  the 
18* 


210  WOMEN    OF    PRIMIT1TK   CHRISTIANITY 

•ame  species  of  tender  affection,  different  in  degree,  but 
the  same  in  kind,  with  that  with  which  "  Christ  also  loved 
the  church,  and  gave  himself  for  it." 

It  is  interesting  to  behold  the  change  wrought  on  the 
female  sex  under  the  vivifying  influence  of  the  spirit  of 
love.  We  see  them  at  once,  quickened  into  new  life  and 
energy,  coming  forward  meekly  and  with  feminine  grace, 
but  right  manfully  as  the  soldiers  and  servants  of  their 
Lord  and  Saviour,  even  unto  death.  Weak  and  power- 
less in  themselves,  the  grace  of  God  imparted  to  them 
such  heroic  courage,  and  the  love  of  Jesus  so  powerfully 
constrained  them  that  they  were  enabled  to  sustain  un- 
flinchingly the  whole  weight  of  persecution  directed  against 
them  in  almost  every  quarter  of  the  vast  Roman  empire. 
Witness  for  example,  the  heroic  Blandina,  who  in  the 
second  century  of  the  Christian  era,  manifested  to  the 
churches  of  Lyons  and  Vienne,  and  who  to  the  whole 
church  militant  on  earth  will  ever  continue  to  show  forth 
the  power  of  divine  grace;  in  whom  Christ  made  manifest 
that  the  sex,  which  in  the  eyes  of  the  polished  and  refined, 
as  well  as  of  the  savage  heathen,  had  seemed  mean  and 
contemptible,  "  was  yet  esteemed  of  great  glory  with  God, 
on  account  of  love  to  him,  which  was  really  and  power- 
fully displayed  in  her  who  gloried  not  in  the  mere  appear- 
ance of  virtue." 

Behold  the  contrast  between  woman  as  a  moral  agent, 
in  her  appropriate  position  under  that  religious  system, 
\*hich,  while  it  appeals  to  the  warm  affection  of  her  na- 
ture, recognizes  her  spiritual  rights  and  privileges,  with 
that  which  she  had  presented  under  the  most  refined  form 
of  paganism!  Where  can  we  find  a  more  appropriate 
illustration  of  this  truth,  than  in  the  case  lately  adduced. 
Blandina,  a  young  female  disciple  of  the  Gallic  churches 


WOMEN    OP   PRIMITIVE   CHRISTIANITY.  211 

of  Vienne  and  Lyons,  enjoying  no  intellectual  advantages, 
but  on  the  contrary  filling  the  place  of  a  domestic  to  a 
Christian  mistress  in  the  same  church,  when  enlightened 
by  divine  grace,  exhibited  a  dignity  and  strength  of  virtue, 
a  degree  of  fortitude  and  heroic  endurance  of  eufFerings, 
that  far  exceeded  all  that  Seneca,  Socrates,  or  the  wisest 
and  most  virtuous  of  the  pagan  philosophers  ever  mani- 
fested in  their  seasons  of  trial. 

Her  fellow-Christians  had  been  accustomed  to  regard 
her  but  as  a  public  woman,  filling  a  subordinate  station  in 
society,  and  therefore  probably  had  never  conjectured  that 
her  soul  could  be  the  shrine  in  which  the  most  elevated 
attributes  of  our  nature  might  be  enthroned.  Accordingly 
when  they  beheld  Blandina  led  forth  to  martyrdom,  they 
were  filled  with  consternation,  and  even  her  own  mistress, 
— herself  one  of  the  contending  martyrs, — who  might 
naturally  be  supposed  to  know  her  best,  was  fearfully 
apprehensive,  lest  the  weak  and  trembling  girl  might,  in 
prospect  of  the  severe  bodily  sufferings  which  were  inflict- 
ed on  the  Christian  professors  of  those  days,  faint  under 
the  anticipated  load  and  abjure  the  course  of  their  com- 
mon Lord. 

But  the  noblest  elements  of  our  nature  were  dormant 
in  the  bosom  of  Blandina; — the  grace  of  God  had  been 
quietly  maturing  them,  and  a  fitting  occasion  was  only 
needed  to  develop  them  in  full  beauty.  The  hour  of  severe 
trial  is  not  unfrequently  the  moment  when  a  timid  and 
modest  female  first  reveals  even  to  her  most  intimate 
friends,  the  full  excellence  and  strength  of  her  mind  and 
affections.  Blandina  was  subjected  to  the  most  cruel 
tortures  by  her  savage  persecutors;  her  frail  body  was 
lacerated  by  severe  and  oft-repeated  torments,  but  she 
was  so  sustained  by  her  divine  Redeemer,  that  she  was 


212  WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY. 

enabled  to  endure  patiently,  and  even  cheerfully,  the 
utmost  which  malice  or  her  enemies  could  inflict.  Her 
persecutors  enraged  at  her  heroic  endurance  of  sufferings, 
•whose  severity  they  could  well  estimate,  determined  by 
perseverance  in  their  nefarious  purposes,  to  accomplish 
their  base  design — which,  was  to. compel  her  to  renounce 
her  sacred  profession,  and  abjure  allegiance  to  Christ. — 
Wearied  out  themselves  by  inflicting  tortures  on  her,  they 
relievpd  each  other  by  day  and  night,  so  that  each  might 
come  refreshed  and  invigorated,  the  better  io  attain  the 
object  they  had  in  view.  But  the  meek  and  exemplary 
sufferer  realized  abundantly  tire  fulfilment  of  the  gracious 
promises  of  her  Redeemer;  he  forsook  not  his  dear  child 
in  her  hour  of  anguish  and  deep  affliction-;  he  placed  un- 
derneath her,  the"  everlasting,  arms  of  his  love;  so  that 
when  her  lacerated  limbs  seemed  ready  to  fall  asunder, 
the  blessed  saint  might  still  be  heard,  sweetly  but  faintly 
sending  forth  her  glorious  confession, ."  I  am  a  Christian — 
no  wickedness  is  carried  on  by  us." 

Nor  was  Blandira  a  solitary  example. in  the  primitive 
church,  of  the  powerful  efficacy  of  divine  grace  in  develop- 
ing the  class  of  virtues  which  woman  was  specially  appoint- 
ed to  manifest  to  the  world.  .The  name  of  many  a  sister 
spirit  who  emulated  her  example  and  followed  her  in  the 
«ame  rugged  ascent  to  the  hill  of  Zion,  will  be  familiar  to 
most  of  my  readers  who  are  at  all  conversant  with  the 
pages  of  ecclesiastical  history. 

The  beautiful  and  heroic  Potamiena,  whose  executioner 
was  himself  converted  to  Christianity  by  her  instrumen- 
tality, in  the  hour  of  her  sorest  affliction;  Mcrcuria  ard 
Dyonisia,  Quinta  and  Apollonia — whose  praise  it  was  in 
the  Christian  church  of  Alexandria,  to  have  checked  the 
tortures  decreed  by  the  cruel  governor, — because  after 


WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE   CHRISTIANITY.  213 

they  had  joyfully  endured  excruciating  sufferings  without 
apostatizing,  he  declared  that  he  would  no  longer  "be 
defeated  hy  woman" — and  therefore  permitted  the  more 
merciful  sword,  to  supersede  for  awhile,  the  rack,  the 
flame  and  other  more  severe  modes  of  torture;  these  and 
a  host  of  other  sainted  names  might  he  adduced,  if  further 
proof  was  needed  to  convince  impartial  judges,  that  wo- 
man's true  position  is  as  a  handmaid«of  her  Lord  and  Sa- 
viour;— that  the  Word  of  God  is  specially  adapted  to  the 
necessities  of  her  condition,  and  no  less  happily  fillc-d  hy 
her  Creator  to  exhibit,  the  perfections  of  that  renewed  and 
sanctified  nature,  to  which  the  Triune  God  lias  undertaken 
conjointly  to  restore  every  fallen  child  of  Adam,  who  shall 
come  unto  God  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  order  to  the  full  development  of  the  female  character, 
we  have  seen  by  attentive  consideration,  that  the  or.e  grand 
essential  point,  is  that  the  religious  system  under  \\hich  it 
is  trained,  shall  be  one  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God, 
as  revealed  in  his  holy  Scriptures.  Under  the  sway 
of  her  noblest  and  honored  sons,  Rome's  national  glory 
was  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  the  kings  and  princes  of  the 
earth  were  proud  in  being  ranked  as  her  allies  and  tribu- 
taries, we  have  seen  that  woman  was  ranked  low  in  the 
scale  of  being;— her  noblest  matrons  and  fairest  daughters 
were  comparatively,  uninfluential  agents  in  conserving  or 
extending  the  interests  of  their  country.  After  the  death 
of  Diocletian,  discord  reigned  throughout  the  vast  Roman 
empire,  and  the  east  and  west  were  rent  by  the  civil  wars 
and  fierce  dissensions  which  ensued  when  six  aspirants 
contended  simultaneously  for  the  purple;  yet  even  then, 
under  the  benign  influence  of  true  Christianity,  a  goodly 
host  was  mustered,  who,  as  the  conservatives  of  their 
country,  dared  to  oppose  the  combined  power  of  Maxentius 


4 14  WOMEN   OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY. 

and  Maximinus,  who  in  the  extent  and  vileness  of  their 
guilt,  were  perhaps  scarcely  ever  surpassed  by  any  of  the 
tyrants  of  Rome.  Roman  women  were  then  taught  to 
feel,  that  they  were  no  longer  mere  automatons,  unable  or 
incapable  of  promoting  (he  best  interests  of  their  country: 
the  chains  by  which  their  moral  nature  had  been  kept  in 
servile  vassalage  were  loosened, — the  truths  of  the  Gospel 
had  given  them  liberty.  Many  of  the  Christian  females 
of  Rome,  as  well  as  those  of  the  Eastern  empire,  dared  to 
oppose  arid  defeat  the  brutal  monarchs  who  swayed  the 
sceptres  of  the  divided  empire,  and  exhibited  a  dignity  and 
beauty  of  moral  character  far  transcending  that  of  any  of 
their  sex  in  the  proudest  era  of  their  national  glory. 

The  noble  Avria  had  been  immortalized  in  her  country's 
annals  for  facing  death  with  firmness,  in  order  to  nerve  her 
beloved  Paetus  to  meet  the  fate  decreed  him  by  Claudius. 
Platina,  we  are  informed  by  historians,  continued  to  be 
regarded  in  Rome  to  her  latest  years,  with  the  most  un- 
bounded admiration,  and  the  preponderance  of  the  lily 
over  the  rose  in  her  complexion,  only  threw  a  more  lively 
interest  around  her  beautiful  features,  because  it  was  a 
constant  memento  of  her  conjugal  affection  for  Seneca, 
whose  death  she  had  intended  to  share,  when  the  brutal 
Nero,  unwilling  to  afford  this  meed  of  consolation  to  his 
victim,  ordered  the  veins  in  her  arms  and  feet  to  be  clos- 
ed. These  were  solitary  examples,  and  one  of  the  noblest 
of  the  Romans,  hesitated  not  to  expatiate  on  Avria's  con- 
duct, and  declared  the  action  was  "truly  noble,"  and  he 
added,  "  I  had  almost  said  the  expression, '  Foetus  it  is  not 
painful,'  was  divine."* 

When  Christianity,  however,  was  promulgated  through 

»  Pliny'i  Letteii.     No.  31. 


WOMEN   OF   PRIMITIVE   CHRISTIANITY.  215 

the  Roman  empire  sach  divine  life  and  energy  was  com- 
municated to  its  women  who  embraced  this  religion, — that 
multitudes  of  the  youngest,  and  fairest,  and  most  timid  of 
her  daughters,  dared  to  die, — not  by  the  speedy  death 
which  Avria  inflicted  on  herself,  but  by  the  lingering  tor- 
tures which  the  malice  and  wickedness  of  the  devil  and 
man  in  combined  fury  could  bring  against  them;  and  the 
particularizing  of  which  would  be  (oo  harrowing  to  my 
feelings  to  relate.  "  See!"  said  the  Christian  fathers  and 
husbands  to  the  infidel  blasphemers  who  were  surrounding 
with  savage  cruelty  the  ampitheatre,  which  were  the 
favorite  scenes  for  the  display  of  these  bloody  tragedies, 
"  See!  how  our  women  and  children  can  d4e." 

If  the  influence  of  Christianity  was  made  manifest  in  the 
holy  courage  with  which  even  its  female  disciples  were 
enabled  to  face  the  horrors  of  persecution,  and  to  come-off 
as  conquerors  in  the  fierce  conflict  in  which  they  were  so 
often  called  to  face  the  last  great  enemy  of  man ;  no  less 
perceptible  was  its  effects  on  the  morals  of  those  who  .sub- 
mitted themselves  to  its  requirements. 

One  of  the  most  determined  and  insidious  enemies  of 
our  holy  religion  hesitated  not  to  acknowledge,  "  the  vir- 
tues of  the  early  Christians."  "  The  primitive  Christian," 

he  says,  "  demonstrated  his  faith  by  his  virtues The  first 

apologists  of  Christianity  who  justify  the  innocence  of  their 
brethren,  and  the  writers  of  a  later  period  who  celebrate 
the  sanctity  of  their  ancestors,  display  in  the  most  lively 
colors  the  reformation  of  manners  which  was  introduced 
into  the  world  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel."* 

Could  this  wily  opponent  of  the  truth  have  disproved 
the  fact,  we  may  rest  assured  that  he  would  have  gladly 

*  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.    Chap.  XV. 


210  WOMEN    OF    PRIMITIVE    CHRISTIANITY. 

done  so;  hut  he  dared  not  make  so  perilous  an  attempt. 
While  he  was  constrained  to  admit  the  change  introduced 
by  Christianity  into  domestic  and  public  moral:?,  he  strove 
as  far  as  possible  to  weaken  the  force  of  his  concessions,  by 
the  air  of  levity  with  which  he  uttered  them.  But  the 
wrath  of  man  has  been  here  as  elsewhere,  compelled  to 
praise  the  God  whose  holiness  it  abhors.  But  the  conces- 
sions of  the  infidel  historian  to  the  change  wrought  by  the 
introduction  of  the  Gospel  in  the  sentiments  of  mankind, 
concerning  the  marriage  contract,  and  other  j  oints  in 
which  the  dignity  of  woman  was  intimately  connect  ed, 
may  \\cll  be  reckoned  a  striking  attestation  of  the  fact, 
that  our  sex  has  been  immeasurably  blessed  and  ennobled 
by  the  delusion  of  that  glorious  light  of  life. 

Wherever  (he  banner  of  the  cross  was  unfurled,  in  (he 
early  a^csof  Christianity,  there;  were  females  to  be  found 
readx  to  rally  around  it,  whose  devotion  to  the  glorious 
cause  was  proof  against  the  most  seductive  blandishments 
of  the  world.  When  the  threat  adversary  of  man  assailed 
the  infant  churches  of  God  and  incited  the  heathen  rulers 
of  the  dilTercnt  countries  of  the  world  to  exert  all  their 
power  i:i  overcoming  the  faith  of  th.e  primitive  believers, 
then  did  the  grace  of  God  frequently  make  his  s!rer;gth 
perfected  in  weakness,  by  calling  forth  young  and  timid 
fem;i!''S  from  the  shades  of  retirement,  and  setting  them 
forth  ns  pillars  in  his  church,  to  sustain  the  whole  weight 
of  persecution  directed  against  them.  When  on  some 
occasions  honored  by  suflering  for  their  Lord,  and  in  con- 
formih  to  his.  death,  they  "  from  the  cross  by  their  earnest 
prayers  infused  much  alacrity  into  the  contending  martyrs 
who  surrounded,"  and  on  others,  when  released  from  (he 
stake  .'iiul  hurried  back  to  prison,  they  by  gaining  the  vic- 
tory in  many  conflicts, though  email,  weak  and  contemptible 


WOMEN  OF  PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIANITY.  217 

in  themselves,  yet  being  clothed  with  the  glorious  panoply 
of  Christ,  were  able  to  overcome  the  host  of  their  vindic- 
tive enemies,  and  after  mightily  encouraging  their  breth- 
ren received  the  crown  of  immortality,  and  joined  the 
glorious  cloud  of  witnesses  which  will  continue  evermore 
surrounding  the  church  militant,  to  encourage  its  members 
in  their  progress  heavenwards. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  blood  of  the  martyrs, 
poured  forth  in  copious  streams,  through  the  gar- 
den of  the  Lord,  became  by  the  blessing  of  God,  one  of 
the  most  efficient  causes  of  its  subsequent  fertility ;  and  since, 
as  we  have  seen,  the  crimson  flood  was  swelled  abundantly 
by  contributions  poured  forth  from  female  hearts,  then 
may  we  on  this  account  alone,  be  authorized  in 
believing  that  the  women  of  the  primitive  churches  were 
most  effective  moral  agents  in  the  dissemination  of  truth. 
In  addition  to  this  we  have  abundant  testimony,  that  in 
the  centuries  subsequent,  their  holy  examples  were  emi- 
nently instrumental  in  diffusing  the  light  of  the  Gospel. 
Bertha,  the  Christian  bride  of  Egbert,  who  united  in  his 
person  the  titles  of  the  previous  contending  princes  of  the 
Saxon  Heptarchy,  is  declared  on  good  authority  to  have 
exerted  her  powerful  influence,  in  inducing  her  pagan 
husband  to  listen  to  the  truths  of  Christianity,  and  to  pa- 
tronize its  ministers. 

Clovis,  the  founder  of  the  French  monarchy  is  also  rep- 
resented by  historians,  as  having  been  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity and  induced  to  establish  its  rites  in  his  dominion! 
by  the  persuasions  of  his  wife  Clotilda,  a  Burgundian  prin- 
cess. The  information  already  brought  forward,  though 
by  no  means  novel  in  itself,  should  be  considered  impor- 
tant when  forming  our  opinions  in  respect  to  to  the  in- 

19 


218  WOMEN   OF   PRIMITIVE  CHRISTIANITY. 

fluence  exerted  by  woman  as  soen  as  released  from  the 
thraldom  of  paganism,  she  was  allowed  to  take  her  part  in 
the  arena  of  life,  in  the  station  to  which  her  Maker  had 
especially  destined  her,  as  the  ministering  servant  of  the 
'Hod  of  love. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

WOMEN    UNDER    DEFECTIVE    CREEDS. 

If  the  truth  of  God  as  revealed  in  Scripture  was  design- 
ed to  be  the  polar  star,  by  which  woman  was  to  navigate 
her  own  little  bark  safely  over  the  troublesome  waves  of 
the  world,  and  by  whose  light  she  was  to  be  guided  in  her 
most  effective  ministrations  of  mercy  to  others, — then  it 
would  seem  a  natural  consequence  flowing  from  this,  that 
a  departure  by  any  sex  or  body  of  people  from  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  and  precepts  of  this  charter  of  our  spirit- 
ual and  social  privileges,  would  either  entail  on  those 
guilty  of  such  an  aberration,  degradation,  in  the  condition 
of  their  females,  or  occasion  a  liability  to  distortion  in  their 
moral  and  social  developments.  Has  this  supposition 
been  verilied  or  disproved  by  the  experience  of  mankind? 

I  think  the  former  may  safely  be  asserted  to  have  been 
the  case.  It  has  uniformly  been  observed,  that  wherever 
the  church  of  any  country  or  people  has  been  found 
obscured  in  its  brightness  through  doctrinal  error, 
or  defective  expositions  of  practical  truth,  there  has  been 
ever  perceptible  a  want  of  effective  or  sound  moral 
agency,  among  its  female  members; — and  when  to 
spiritual  darkness  has  been  conjoined  intellectual  disad- 
vantages, these  evils  have  been  perceived  to  operate  more 
severely  on  our  sex  than  on  the  other. 

It  may  possibly  be  asserted  in  opposition  to  this  opinion, 
that  the  age  of  chivalry  was  a  period  in  which  females 


220  WOMEN    UNDER    DEFECT1YE   CREEDS. 

exerted  an  extraordinary  power  over  the  interests  of  society, 
and  yet  notwithstanding,  it  was  an  era  in  which  reli- 
gious truth  was  very  imperfectly  developed,  and  in  which 
fanaticism  and  bigotry  were  common  to  the  public  mind. 
Both  of  these  assertions  are  undoubtedly  correct  ;  but 
it  should  be  remembered  that  the  spirit  of  chivalry 
which  displayed  itself  in  fantastic  institutions  and  proved 
the  prolitic  parent  of  capricious  and  extravagant  opinions 
and  practices,  was  not  the  result  of  a  retrogade  movement 
in  the  human  mind,  but  was  on  the  contrary  rather  an 
incipient  effort  to  approximate  towards  the  truth,  and  had, 
it  is  well  known,  a  very  serious  influence  in  refining  the 
habits  and  manners  of  the  European  nations?  It  seems  to 
have  been  one  of  the  evidences  that  the  spirit  of  improve- 
ment had  been  hovering  over  the  dark  and  troubled  wa- 
ters of  human  society,  which,  during  the  feudal  ages,  had 
been  kept  in  perpetual  agitation,  while  anarchy,  rapine 
and  war  universally  abounded.  Moreover  the  position 
in  which  some  of  the  female  sex  were  enthroned  by  the 
romantic  institutions  of  chivalry,  though  undoubtedly 
more  gratifying  to  pride  and  vanity,  than  that  which  had 
been  assigned  to  it  in  the  preceding  and  darker  ages,  was 
certainly  not  calculated  to  meet  the  original  designs  of  the 
Almighty  in  its  creation,  while  undoubtedly  he  caused  it 
ultimately  to  subserve  his  wise  purposes. 

The  characteristic  qualities  most  highly  esteemed  dur- 
ing this  remarkable  era,  were  by  no  means  such,  as  in 
modern  ethics,  or  by  divine  philosophy,  are  ranked  among 
the  highest  attributes  of  the  human  mind.  Dexterity  in 
the  management  of  the  steed  and  the  lance  were  consider- 
ed as  equally  essential  to  the  fame  of  the  true  knight,  with 
the  graces  of  valor  and  courtesy,  while  the  regulation  of  the 
understanding,  the  will  and  the  affections,  by  principles 


WOMEN   UNDER   DEFECTIVE   CREEDS.  221 

drawn  from  the  oracles  of  revealed  truth,  was  scarce  con- 
sidered a  practicable  attainment.  Religion  was  made  to 
consist  in  a  scrupulous  adherence  to  a  routine  of  external 
observances,  and  that  piety,  which  owes  its  vitality  to  a 
living  faith  in  the  Redeemer,  and  evidences  its  existence, 
when  working  by  love  it  seeks  to  perfect  and  discipline  the 
heavenly  seed,  was  'unknown  or  unpraqticed,  except  by  a 
few  solitary  individuals. 

Accordingly,  if  we  consult  the  literature  of  the  period, 
for  facts'  illustrative  of  the  existing  social  relations,  we 
sb.all  find  Indeed  a  portion  of  the  female  community  install- 
ed in  certain  rights  and  privileges  which  constituted  them 
to- a  degree  arbiters  of  public  opinion;  but  the  influence 
thus  derived  will  be  found  to  have  been  indebted  for  its  exis- 
tence and  permanence,  chiefly  to  adventitious  circumstan- 
stances.  Personal  charms  and  graces,  and,  generally 
speaking,  rank  and  station  in.life,  were  essential  requisites 
to  the  possession  or  exercise  of  female  influence.  The 
ornament  of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit  would  have  little 
availed  its  fair  possessor,  but  beautiful  features,  a  graceful 
form,  witty  and  brilliant  manners,  and  gorgeous  apparel, 
entitled  many  a  female  aspirant  to  distinction,  to  take  her 
place  of  honor,  to  adjudicate  on  the  contending  claims  of 
rival  champions,  and  to  confer  the  palm  of  victory. — 
There  were  then  none  of  those  noiseless  but  powerful  in- 
fluences at  work  on  the  under  current  of  society,  by  which 
means  woman,  through  the  medium  of  her  hold  on  the 
affections  was  designed  under  God,  to  be  chiefly  instru- 
mental in  advancing  the  moral  regeneration  of  mankind. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  women  of  the  church  of  Rome 
which  by  Protestant  Christians,  is  believed  to  have  de- 
parted grievously  in  her  doctrines  and  institutions,  from 
the  purity  of  the  apostolic  church.  At  a  period  when 

19* 


222  WOMEN    UNDER   DEFECTIVE    CREEDS. 

multiplied  facilities  in  acquiring  wealth  and  the  dignities 
of  rank  and  station  had  exerted  a  most  unfortunate  influ- 
ence over  the  Romish  priesthood,  it  was  deemed  judicious 
for  the  maintenance  of  their  spiritual  and  temporal  power, 
to  incorporate  certain  novel  customs  and  practices  into  their 
ritual,  in  the  hope  they  might  serve  as  redeeming  helps  to 
waning  authority.  Many  ingenious  plans  were  devised  in 
the  hope  of  substituting  ceremonial  sanctity  for  the  reli- 
gion of  the  heart;  one  not  the  least  early  resorted  to,  and 
to  which  adherence  has  heen  tenaciously  preserved, 
was  that  of  the  enforcement  of  celibacy  on  the  clergy,  and 
subsequently  the  introduction  of  the  monastic  and  con- 
ventual system  into  the  church  at  large. 

This  practice  which  originated  ostensibly  from  a  desire 
to  restore  primitive  sanctity  to  a  backsliding  church,  was 
in  fact  a  mere  delusion,  whose  tendency  has  ever  been  to 
contravene  the  designs  of  the  Almighty  in  the  creation  of 
our  sex,  in  various  particulars.  In  the  first  place,  it  has 
detached  a  large  body  of  females,  and  those  frequently  the 
best  fitted  for  duty,  from  the  ties  of  family  and  those  social 
influences,  by  which  woman's  nature  was  designed  to  be 
specially  efficient  in  the  promotion  of  the  temporal  and 
eternal  interests  of  her  immediate  circle  of  connections, 
and  through  them  on  society  at  large.  And,  secondly, 
the  result  has  uniformly  been  to  substitute  the  claims  to  a 
mystic  and  ethereal  sublimation  of  the  affections,  on  the 
possession  of  which,  an  assumption  of  merit  may  be  based, 
for  the  practical  and  wholesome  virtues  inculcated  by  the 
Gospel  of  grace,  and  which  we  have  seen  that  woman  was 
peculiarly  required  to  manifest,  and  by  the  extension  of 
which  alone  her  efficiency  as  a  moral  agent  can  be  pro- 
perly secured. 

In  the  ages  preceding  the  Reformation,  the  conventual 


WOMEN    UNDER   DEFECTIVE     CREEDS.  223 

system  was  astonishingly  popular,  and  in  those  countries 
of  the  present  and  past  centuries  in  which  popery  has  been 
the  dominant  religion,  it  has  existed  to  an  alarming  extent; 
In  Spain  alone,  we  are  informed' on  good  authority,  that 
at  the  close  .of  the  last  century,  there  were  not  less  than 
40,000  females  immured  in  nunneries.  A  modern  writer, 
himself  a  deep  sufferer  from  the  evils  which  result  from 
the  morbid  excitement,  and  severance  of  the  dearest  ties 
of  the  social  relations,  incident  to  those  communities  where 
the  claims  of  the  cloister  are  considered  as  of  paramount 
importance  to  any  that  maybe  presented  to  the  female 
heart, — has  given  us  some  very  affecting  particulars  of  his 
owrf  family  history,  which  with  other  facts  furnished  us  in 
his  works,  fully  illustrate  my  position,  that  a  departure 
from  the  pure  doctrines  and  institutions  of  the  Gospel,  has 
an  evident  tendency  to  undermine  sound  and  healthful 
female  influence  and  to  induce  great  national  evils.* 

What  ills  have  likewise  resulted  to  woman,  and  how 
grossly  have  her  liberties  been  curtailed,  by  the  practice  of 
auricular  confession,  and  other  institutions  unwarranted 
by  Scripture,  which  the  same  church  has  seen  fit  to  im- 
pose on  her  credulous  members?  The  mother,  the  wife, 
and  the  sister,  have  in  innumerable  cases,  been  required 
and  compelled  by  a  crafty  priesthood  to  become  the  accu- 
sers and  destroyers  of  those,  who  were  dear  to  them  as 
their  own  souls.  With  what  pathos  does  Blanco  White 
describe  the  mute  anguish  depicted  on  his  mother's  face, 
when  she  first  was  led  to  suspect  that  the  child  of  her 
tenderest  affections  was  harboring  heretical  sentiments 
towards  their  national  faith;  she  passively,  but  in  agony 

t   *./  *  **     * 

*  See  the  letters  of  the  Hev.  Blanco  White,  a  convert  from  the  Popish 
church  of  Spain,  written  under  his  own  proper  name,  and  also  such  as- 
were  published  under  an  assumed  one,  as  "  Doblado's  Letters." 


224  WOMEN    UNDER    DEFECTIVE    CREEDS. 

of  mind  severed  the  sweet  tie  of  companionship,  which  in- 
stinctively binds  the  maternal  bosom  to  that  of  her  off- 
spring; for  she  had  been  taught  by  those  who  held  her 
spiritual  nature  in  custody,  that  there  were  stronger  claims 
upon  her  than  could  be  presented  by  her  son.  The  holy 
mother  church  had  declared  to  her  and  all  other  females 
thus  situated,  that  it  was  a  palpable  sin  committed  by 
them,  if  they  divulged  not  in  the  silent  recesses  of  the  con- 
fessional, any  heretical  sentiment  uttered  by  the  nearest 
and  dearest  relatives,  who  might  thus  have  rendered  them- 
selves cognizable  to  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  and  sub- 
ject to  the  tyranny  of  the  inquisition. 

The  Spanish  nation  at  the  present  day,  but  more  espe- 
cially the  females  of  it,  are  compelled  to  suffer  the 
severe  penalties  imposed  on  them  in  a  great  measure 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Isabel  the  Catholic.  With 
elements  of  moral  and  intellectual  character  of  the  first 
order, — she  lived  only  for  others,  and  with  generous  magna- 
nimity was  ever  ready  to  sacrifice  personal  considerations 
for  the  promotion  of  the  good  of  her  subjects,  and  her 
achievements  for  their  advancement  in  civil  and  political 
improvement,  seem  almost  miraculous.  She  had,  neverthe- 
less committed  the  custody  of  her  conscience  to  the  priest- 
hood of  a  corrupt  church ;  through  the  persuasions  and  by 
the  advice  of  certain  of  their  order  whom  she  venerated 
as  her  spiritual  counsellors,  even  she  whose  moral  cha- 
racter was  eminently  lovely,  was  induced  in  an  evil  hour 
for  her  country,  to  establish  the  inquisition  in  her  domin- 
ions, the  pernicious  and  most  deleterious  influence  of  which 
on  the  best  interests  of  that  naturally  noble  minded  people, 
it  is  scarcely  possible  accurately  to  measure. 

Nor  has  papa]  policy  been  restricted  in  its  malign  ope- 
rations upon  the  interests  ofwoman,  to  one  country.  We 


WOMEN    UNDER     DEFECTIVE  CREEDS.  226 

find  wherever  it  is  dominant,  her  agency  has  been  limited 
and  perverted.  In  polished  and  intellectual  France,  her 
daughters  have  indeed  been  actively  instrumental  in  the 
cause  of  literature,  and  as  femmes  savantes  have  ranked 
with  the  most  gifted  of  the  other  sex;  but  as  God's  moral 
agents  they  have  effected  little  for  the  best  interests  of 
humanity.  They  have  dazzled  the  world  by  their  bril- 
liant writings,  have  had  their  saloons  thronged  by  the 
sages  and  the  wits  of  Europe,  who  have  bowed  in  homage 
at  their  glittering  shrines,  but  they  have  failed  to  accom- 
plish the  object  designed  in  their  creation.  Napoleon's 
acute  mind  perceived  what  his  country  wanted  to  render 
her  truly  great — "  The  fate  of  a  child,"  said  he,  "  is  always 
the  work  of  its  mother."  He  who  had  conquered  empires 
to  add  to  the  dominions  of  "  la  belle  France,"  felt  that  he 
needed  another  agency  to  secure  her  best  interests, — he 
wanted  mothers,  and  they  have  never,  can  never  be  reared 
wisely  and  effectively  but  under  the  pure  precepts  of  that 
religion,  which  alone  furnishes  proper  materials  on  which 
to  base  the  superstructuie  of  the  maternal  character,  and 
adequate  motives  to  stimulate  to  the  performance  of  its 
legitimate  duties. 

If  woman  with  the  highest  literary  advantages  has  been 
cramped  in  the  exercise  of  her  specific  privileges,  by  the 
malign  influence  of  papacy,  it  is  by  no  means  surprising, 
that  among  the  churches  of  the  East,  which  have  also  de- 
parted from  the  purity  of  primitive  doctrine  and  precept, 
and  are  at  the  same  time  in  a  state  of  intellectual  darkness, 
she  should  have  been  still  more  grievously  curtailed  of  her 
rightful  power.  The  females  of  the  Armenian,  Nestorian, 
and  Chaldean  churches  of  Asia,  are  kept  in  a  state  of  great 
depression  and  ignorance,  and  to  the  great  mass  of 
them,  it  is  considered  wholly  unnecessary  to  impart  the 


226  WOMEN  UNDER  DEFECTIVE  CREEDS. 

the  most  simple  rudiments  of  instruction.  The  journals  of 
our  different  intelligent  missionary  tourists,  who  have  furn- 
ished the  chief  sources  of  information  respecting  them, 
represent  the  prej  udices  against  the  female  sex  as  among  the 
most  deeply  rooted  of  those  with  which  they  have  been 
called  to  conflict,  and  in  some  sections  of  the  country 
visited  by  Messrs.  Smith  and  Dwight,  it  seemed  little  short 
of  an  insult  to  the  understanding  of  the  men,  to  make 
any  attempt  to  enlighten  the  intellects  of  the  females.  In 
the  Greek  church  of  Russia  w'lose  creed,  as  given  to  us  by 
the  intelligent  and  Rev.  Dr.  Pinkerton  is  far  less  radically 
corrupt  than  that  of  the  Romish  and  Eastern  churches,  it  has 
been  found  that  our  sex  may  be  rendered  far  more 
useful.  Some  of  the  noble  matrons  of  Russia  in  the 
highest  walks  of  life  have  proved  that  Christianity  can 
clothe  their  sex  with  a  power  over  a  comparatively  rude, 
and  till  within  little  more  than  a  century,  an  uncivilized 
nation,  which  the  female  members  of  the  Romish  church, 
have  never  exhibited  in  polished  and  intellectual  France. 
The  American  Episcopal  church  has  made  an  effort  to  test 
what  the  same  church  in  its  own  classic  land  can  do  by  the 
instrumentality  of  its  youthful  daughters,  for  the  best  in- 
terests of  society.  They,  under  the  sheltering  wings  of  an 
enlightened  and  Christian  female  of  our  own  country,  are 
being  prepared  to  bless  and  be  blessed  by  Greece,  and 
already  has  one  among  the  beloved  little  ones  who  with 
her  youthful  companions  have  been  circling  the  feet  of 
their  excellent  preceptress,  and  drinking  in  the  pure  and  re- 
freshing streams  which  flow  from  the  fountain  of  living 
waters,  instructed  her  countrymen,  who  may  be  disposed  to 
listen  to  her  voice,  how  to  meet  the  last  great  enemy  of  man 
more  effectual)'  than  did  the  sagacious  Socrates,  the  ad- 


WOMEN    UNDEE   DEFECTIVE    CREEDS.  227 

miring  friends  who  surrounded  his  dying  couch  to  reeeive 
lessons  on  the  same  great  truth. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact,  that  while  true  Christianity  has 
rendered  its  female  disciples  powerfully  instrumental  in 
promoting  the  hest  interests  of  society,  the  influence  ex- 
erted by  those  of  our  sex,  whose  minds  have  been  sway- 
ed by  false  and  perverted  views  of  religious  truth,  has 
been  among  the  most  pernicious  ever  experienced  by  our 
race.  For  many  centuries  preceding  the  reformation, 
ecclesiastics  in  the  various  portions  of  Christendom,  exert- 
ed all  their  energies  in  endeavoring  to  repress  and  annihi- 
late every  vestige  of  opposition  to  the  grievous  corrup- 
tions in  doctrine  and  practice  which  everywhere  abound- 
ed. Among  the  various  religionists  who  during  that 
dark  period  had  been  taught  by  the  study  of  inspired  truth 
to  detest,  abhor  and  renounce  the  gross  errors  of  a  corrupt 
faith,  the  Paulicans  were  rendered  remarkable  by  their 
courageous  adherence  to  the  word  of  God  in  opposition  to 
the  traditions  of  men,  by  their  purity  of  manners,  and 
by  the  virulent  abuse  of  their  enemies.  Numbers  of  the 
Greek  emperors  strove,  by  severe  penal  statutes,  and  the 
agency  of  a  host  of  vindictive  and  servile  abettors 
armed  with  plenary  powers  both  legal  and  military, 
to  crush  the  Paulicians  whose  primitive  simplicity  of 
manners  and  abhorrence  of  popular  superstitions,  were 
regarded  in  the  light  of  severe  crimes  by  the  royal  cham- 
pions of  a  self-styled  orthodoxy.  "Theodora  empress  of 
Constantinople,  who  swayed  the  sceptre  of  the  East,  dur- 
ing the  middle  of  the  ninth  century,  has  however  been 
awarded  by  friends  and  enemies,  the  questionable  honor 
of  having  exceeded  the  most  ferocious  of  her  royal  line  in 
sanguinary  devotion  to  the  work  of  exterminating  heresy. 
Her  inquisitors  explored  alike  the  crowded  cities,  obscure 


228  WOMEN    UNDER     DEFECTIVE   CREEDS. 

recesses  and  mountain  fastnesses  of  Asia  Minor,  in  prose- 
cution of  their  bloody  purposes,  and  "  the  flatterers  of  the 
empress  have  affirmed  that  in  a  short  reign,  one  hundred 
thousand  Paulicians  were  extirpated  by  the  sword,  the 
gibbet  and  the  flame."*  The  24th  of  August,  1572,  so 
memorable  in  the  history  of  France,  attests  in  character  of 
blood,  the  evils  that  may  flow  forth  to  a  nation  when  a 
female  mind  placed  in  a  station  of  commanding  authority, 
yields  itself  to  the  pernicious  and  insidious  influence  of  a 
false  faith.  Catharine  de  Medici,  utterly  devoid  as  she 
was  of  principle,  was  a  zealous  bigot  in  the  cause  of  papa- 
cy, and  like  an  evil  spirit,  exerted  her  authority  during 
her  regency,  in  embroiling  all  ranks  and  parties  in  her 
kingdom.  But  the  darling  project  which  lay  nearest  her 
heart  was  the  extinction  of  the  Protestant  faith.  While 
her  external  deportment  was  bland  and  courteous,  in  order 
to  disarm  suspicion  and  lull  her  victims  into  a  false  secu- 
rity; while  Bayonne  was  the  theatre  of  festivities  and 
gaieties,  the  wily  and  sanguinary  Catharine,  having  drawn 
the  duke  of  Alva  to  the  place,  ostensibly  as  an  escort  to 
her  daughter,  the  queen  of  Spain,  found  time  to  concert 
with  him  a  holy  league,  as  it  was  called,  but  one  whose 
paramount  object  was  the  extirpation  of  heresy. 

A  day  was  fixed,  and  orders  were  secretly  despatched 
through  the  kingdom  for  a  general  and  simultaneous  massa- 
cre. Catharine  with  smiles  and  caresses  allured  the  leaders 
of  the  Protestant  party  to  the  capital,  and  so  faithfully  were 
her  sanguinary  purposes  accomplished,  that  it  is  computed 
60,000  human  beings  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  perverted  influ- 
ence of  one  female  mind  swayed  by  a  false  faith.  When 
the  moment  of  action  came,  the  weak  and  irresolute  Charles 

•  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire.     Chap.  LI  V. 


WOMEN    UNDER   DEFECTIVE    CREEDS.  229 

trembled  with  the  fears  common  to  pusillanimous  and 
guilty  minds.  He  would  even  then,  fain  have  withdrawn 
from  participating  in  or  sanctioning  the  murderous  designs 
of  his  more  depraved  parent.  This  hesitation  arose  in- 
deed, not  from  any  conscientious  scruples,  but  from  a  dread 
of  the  personal  consequences  which  might  result  to  himself. 
Catharine  saw  and  felt  the  importance  of  this  crisis.  She 
knew  the  weakness  of  her  son,  and  was  well  aware  of  the 
channel  through  which  the  most  powerful  motives  might 
be  brought  to  bear  upon  his  guilty  soul.  She  availed  her- 
self of  her  advantages,  and  became  a  ministering  spirit  of 
evil  to  him,  and  to  his  people.  She  would  not  leave  him 
for  a  moment  lest  another  should  supplant  her  in  the  exer- 
cise of  influence  over  htm,  until  the  fatal  crisis  was  passed, 
and  to  recede  became  impossible.  She  then  left  her  son's 
side,  and  with  her  ladies  around  her,  stood  at  a  window  of  the 
palace,  feasting  her  eyes  on  the  sights  of  horror  presented 
in  the  streets  below,  where  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting 
Protestants  were  being  slaughtered  by  thousands. 


20 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

WOMEN    OF     PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY. 

After  the  glories  of  the  Grecian  and  Roman  empires  had 
passed  away,  the  Saracens  and  Goths,  who  had  seized 
upon  the  fragmentary  portions  of  the  latter  and  divided 
its  spoil,  having  for  a  season  dazzled  and  terrified  society 
by  their  exploits,had  withdrawn — the  former  to  the  regions 
of  the  east,  in  which  they  had  sought  to  collect  the  trea- 
sures of  knowledge,  and  to  attract  the  sons  of  science ;  while 
the  latter  had  retired  again  to  the  shades  of  their  forests, 
or  had  seated  themselves  permanently  in  their  self-acquired 
possessions.  The  march  of  civilization  and  refinement 
was  then  suspended,  and  for  centuries  a  funeral  pall  co- 
vered the  nations  of  Europe. 

Amidst  this  Cimmerian  darkness  however,  the  falsity 
and  imperfection  of  the  standard  of  duty  devised  by  unas- 
sisted reason,  and  the  glosses  which  scholastic  theology,  in 
the  hands  of  an  ignorant  and  designing  priesthood,  had 
thrown  over  the  scriptural  expositions  of  truth,  were 
gradually  revealed  by  the  labors  of  pious  champions  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  whom  God  in  infinite  mercy, 
from  time  to  time,  raised  up,  and  sent  forth  into  a  benighted 
world  to  protest  against  error  ii)  all  its  forms,  and  to  contend 
earnestly  for  truth  in  its  purity.  Soon  the  vitality  of  vir- 
tue, originating  in  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  based  on  the 
precepts  of  his  Word,  animated  by  his  Spirit  and  instinct 
with  his  love,  was  rendered  openly  manifest,  and  the 


WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT   CHRISTIANITY.  231 

fruits  and  flowers  of  piety  sprang  forth,  to  beautify  the 
lately  desolate  and  waste  places  of  society.  In  the  natu- 
ral world,  vegetation,  if  deprived  of  the  sun,  would  become 
dwarfish  and  stinted,  and  the  colorless  and  sickly  blossom 
would  be  as  incapable  of  perfecting  seed,  as  the  earth 
would  be  of  germinating  that  committed  to  her  bosom; 
so  in  the  moral  world,  has  it  been  found  that  the  fruits  and 
flowers  of  holiness  cannot  be  developed  by  our  fallen 
race  when  excluded  from  his  beams  who  is  the  centre  of 
spiritual  light,  and  whose  moral  perfections  have  been 
summed  up  by  the  apostle  in  those  few  but  emphatic 
words,  "  God  is  love." 

Amidst  the  obscurity  and  gloom  of  the  middle  ages,  the 
two  great  divisions  of  the  human  race — those  of  the  East 
and  West  gradually  severed  whatever  bond  of  companion- 
ship had  previously  existed  between  them,  and  when  the 
curtain  rose  again  from  society,  it  revealed  the  European 
mind  greatly  changed  in  many  important  particulars. 
The  Gothic  nations,  originally  rude  and  barbarous,  under 
the  benign  influence  of  the  Gospel  of  love  developed  a 
moral  nobility  of  being,  essentially  different  from  the  cha- 
racteristics of  human  nature  previously  exhibited.  The 
nations  on  the  south  of  the  great  Alpine  barrier,  who  had 
for  ages  been  revelling  in  luxury,  had  become  effeminate 
through  its  excess,  while  those  on  the  northern  side  re- 
tained their  primitive  simplicity  and  unlettered  rudeness. 
A  time  however  came,  when  the  hardy  sons  of  the  north 
could  evince  a  decided  superiority  over  their  once  vaunt- 
ing neighbors. 

Various  circumstances  conspired  to  give  the  English 
nation  peculiar  facilities  for  commencing  the  mighty  work 
of  reformation  of  religious  abuses,  and  for  throw  ing  off  the 
shackles  of  papal  servitude.  Her  insular  position  in  a 


232  WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY. 

measure  detached  her  from  the  vigilant  supervision  of  pon- 
tifical power,  and  the  very  fact  that  only  one  of  the  mul- 
titude, who  in  successive  ages  filled  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
was  an  Englishman  by  birth,  prevented  the  exhibition  of 
that  reciprocal  sympathetic  action  which  was  else- 
where so  often  observable  between  different  popes  and 
the  land  of  their  birth.  Several  of  the  sovereigns  of 
England,  had  questioned  the  right  and  rejected  the  extra- 
vagant claims  of  pontifical  and  ecclesiastical  power,  not 
on  the  ground  of  Us  intrinsic  injustice,  but  because  the 
exercise  of  it  conflicted  with  their  own  prerogatives.  The 
decided  conduct  of  William  the  Norman,  Henry  II.,  and 
Edward  I.  and  III.,  in  maintainingin  their  kingdom  a  power 
which  should  preside  over  that  of  the  church,  can  find  no 
parallel  among  the  continental  princes  of  the  same  era; 
and  the  removal  of  the  papal  court  to  Avignon,  which  had 
been  acceded  to,  as  a  matter  of  policy  by  the  church  of 
Rome,  was  evidently  greatly  instrumental  in  severing  her 
hold  on  the  hearts  of  the  English  nation. 

Among  the  holy  men  who  during  the  prevalence  of 
ignorance  and  superstition,  being  enlightened  by  the  spirit 
of  God,  had  detected  the  errors  of  the  age  in  which  they 
lived,  and  boldly  and  faithfully  proclaimed  the  truth  to 
those  around  them  —  Bradwardine,  Grosstete,  Roger  Ba- 
con, and  especially  Wycliffe,  form  a  brilliant  assemblage, 
and  will  ever  rank  among  the  names  of  the  religious  and 
civil  benefactors  of  society.  In  their  several  places  and 
vocations  they  were  eminently  useful  in  promoting  the 
best  interests,  not  only  of  England,  the  land  of  their  birth, 
but  of  mankind  at  large. 

Christian  females  were,  however,  in  that  trying  era  to 
be  found  vindicating  effectually  their  right  to  the  title  of 
God's  moral  agents.  And  to  them  it  may  confidently  be 


WOMEN   OF  PROTESTANT  CHRISTIANITY.  233 

affirmed,  that  under  Providence  we  are  at  this  moment 
indebted  for  some  of  our  dearest  and  most  cherished  bless- 
ings. In  the  commencement  of  the  13th  century,  the 
haughty  and  bigoted  Innocent  III.  exerted  all  his  influence 
and  arbitrary  power  in  exterminating  the  pacific  Walden- 
ses,  those  true  disciples  of  the  Saviour,  by  interesting  the 
princes  and  people  of  Europe  to  join  with  him  in  battle 
array  against  them.  The  inquisition  was  instituted,  that 
most  powerful  engine  of  papal  power  in  securing  its  un- 
hallowed purposes,  and  all  the  horrors  of  persecution  were 
unloosed  against  those  who  attempted  to  oppose  the 
bloody  designs  of  the  pontiff.  But  in  that  awful  crisis 
many  noble  and  pious  females  on  the  frontiers  of  Piedmont 
and  Savoy,  were  found  ready,  by  the  grace  of  God,  to 
peril  every  thing  in  shielding  the  unhappy  Waldenses  from 
the  fury  of  Innocent  and  the  brutal  threats  of  the  execu- 
tioners of  his  vengeance.  The  portals  of  their  castles 
were  thrown  open  to  afford  asylums  to,  and  their  gold  and 
silver  were  expended  in  support  of,  the  persecuted  disci- 
ples of  a  pure  faith. 

Wycliffe,  the  father  of  the  English  reformation,  by  the 
machinations  of  the  pope,  and  the  malice  of  his  other 
bigoted  enemies,  was  in  1378  summoned  before  a  synod 
convened  in  Lambeth,  in  which  all  the  highest  ecclesiasti- 
cal dignitaries  of  the  kingdom  were  seated  in  stern  array 
against  him.  His  former  noble  and  powerful  patron,  the 
duke  of  Lancaster,  had  deserted  him,  and  apparently  alone, 
exposed  to  the  fierce  attacks  of  his  enemies,  stood  the 
apostle  of  the  English  Church,  and  the  champion  of  his 
country's  civil  liberties.  The  populace  surrounded  the 
place  of  meeting,  zealously  manifesting  their  attachment 
to  his  person  and  belief  in  his  opinions,  but  wanting  cour- 
age to  deliver  the  venerable  man  from  the  perils  which 

20* 


234  WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT   CHRISTIANITY. 

were  menacing  him  in  that  trying  hour.  To  woman  was 
granted  the  privilege  of  being  the  protectress  of  the  op- 
pressed Wycliffe.  Joanna  the  Queen  Dowager,  the 
widow  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince  and  mother  of  the 
young  and  feeble  minded  Richard  II.,  then  in  his  mi- 
nority, had  listened  to  the  preaching  of  the  reformer, 
and  probably  had  become  acquainted  and  attached 
to  him  personally,  while  he  had  officiated  as  chap- 
lain in  the  court  of  her  father-in-law,  Edward  III.  She 
was  now  not  ashamed  to  acknowledge  her  belief  in  his 
tenets,  and  her  sympathy  with  his  distress.  She  despatched 
her  messenger,  Sir  Lewis  Clifford,  to  the  synod,  and 
peremptorily  forbade  them  to  proceed  against  the  reformer 
officially.  This  princess  adorned  her  high  station  by  those 
feminine  and  Christian  graces  which  render  truly  pious 
females  most  lovely,  and  at  the  same  time  by  her  dignity 
of  mien  and  intellectuality  of  character,  commanded  and 
ensured  respect  to  all  her  requirements.  Her  orders  were 
therefore  no  sooner  presented  to  the  haughty  conclave, 
than,  says  one  of  their  historians  indignantly,  "their 
speech  became  softer  than  oil;"  and  the  reformer,  whom 
in  the  morning  they  had  regarded  as  their  certain  victim, 
was  allowed  in  the  evening  to  walk  forth  unmolested.  A 
Christian  female  had  been  the  means,  under  Providence, 
of  defeating  all  the  malicious  designs  of  the  enemies  of 
truth,  and  of  sending  forth  its  apostle  to  bless  and  enlighten 
his  country. 

Nor  was  Joanna  the  sole  patroness  of  this  extraordinary 
man,  whose  name  is  so  closely  identified  with  the  civil  and 
religious  interests  of  England.  The  amiable  queen  of 
Richard  II.,  the  daughter,  sister  and  wife  of  princes,  enno- 
bled her  high  birth  by  the  conscientious  fulfilment  of  every 
social  and  religious  duty.  She  publicly  and  with  modest 


WOMEN   OF  PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY.  236 

but  decided  firmness  protected  Wycliffe,  and  after  his 
death,  countenanced  and  sustained  his  followers.  She 
became,  as  it  were,  a  beautiful  connecting  link,  uniting  the 
spiritual  interests  of  England,  her  adopted  country,  with 
those  of  Germany,  the  land  of  her  birth.  For  by  her 
faithful  instructions  and  precautions,  her  attendants  were 
thoroughly  indoctrinated  in  the  faith  of  the  Gospel  as  pro- 
mulgated by  Wycliffe,  and  after  her  death,  they  returned 
to  disseminate  it  in  Germany,  destined  to  be  the  cradle 
of  the  reformation. 

In  after  times  the  accession  of  Elizabeth  to  the  throne 
of  England  was  hailed  with  lively  joy  by  her  Protestant 
subjects,  and  to  a  certain  extent  she  did  not  disappoint  their 
sanguine  hopes.  She  not  only  conducted  her  administra- 
tion with  such  wise  policy,  by  collecting  around  her  person 
most  able  and  sagacious  ministers,  as  raised  the  nation  to 
a  height  of  glory  and  prosperity  to  which  it  had  never 
before  attained;  but  she  likewise  firmly  established  the 
pure  doctrines  of  the  reformation,  and  secured  the  safety 
of  its  disciples  throughout  her  dominions.  But  Elizabeth 
was  not  controlled  by  genuine  religious  principle,  and  her 
regulations  in  respect  to  the  extension  of  her  own  faith,  were, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  dictated  more  by  motives  of  state  policy, 
than  by  those  of  genuine  piety.  She  was  pre-eminently 
selfish,  and  therefore  while  by  her  exertions  for  the  spread 
of  the  Protestant  tenets,  she  was  instrumental  in  entailing 
certain  great  blessings  on  her  country,  she  was  herself 
destined,  amidst  all  the  luxury  and  brilliancy  of  a  crowded 
court*  to  feel  the  bitter  pangs  of  an  accusing  conscience, 
and  to  find  her  closing  days  uncheered  and  unblessed  by 
others. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  15th,  and  the  commence- 
ment of  the  16-th  century,  the  cities  of  northern  Italy, 


236  WOMEN   OP   PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY. 

formed  a  centre  of  attraction  towards  which  distinguished 
literary  characters  were  continual!  j  directing  their  atten- 
tion. Among  these  cities  Ferrara,  the  metropolis  of  the 
princes  of  Este,  was  not  the  least  noted,  and  in  its  court, 
Tasso  and  Ariosto,  with  others  of  celebrity  for  genius, 
found  protection  and  munificent  patronage. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  16th  century,  this  city  was 
blessed  in  having  as  its  Duchess,  Renee  of  France,  daugh- 
ter of  Charles  XII.  This  princess  was  no  less  remarkable 
for  her  accomplishment  and  proficiency  in  human  learning, 
than  for  the  purity  and  elevated  tone  of  her  Christian 
character.  She  made  her  court  an  asylum  for  the  votaries 
of  learning,  but  not  less  so  to  the  pious  disciples  of  that 
faith  which  exposed  its  followers  to  the  fury  of  papal  per- 
secution. 

She  had  been  blessed  with  a  pious  governess,  Madame 
Soubise,  who  by  the  influence  she  exerted  over  her  be- 
loved pupil,  was,  by  the  blessing  God,  the  means  of  win- 
ning her  to  a  firm  attachment  to  the  Protestant  religion. 
After  a  time,  the  duke  of  Ferrara,  instigated  by  the  Pope, 
became  alarmed  at  the  power  which  this  amiable  lady, 
who  had  accompanied  her  beloved  pupil  to  her  husband's 
dominions,  was  exercising  over  his  duchess,  and  he  ban- 
ished her  from  his  court.  The  pious  princess  sought  con- 
solation in  the  duties  of  religion  and  in  a  sedulous  devotion 
to  the  education  of  her  children  then  quite  young. 

Renee  furnishes  us  with  an  interesting  example,  illus- 
trative of  the  power  conferred  on  woman  by  Christianity. 
Though  somewhat  deformed,  her  personal  defects  are 
stated  "  to  have  been  so  amply  compeniated  by  the  beau- 
ties of  her  mind  and  the  graces  of  her  heart,  that  taking  all 
in  nil,  she  had  fur  more  reason  to  think  herself  obliged  to 
nature  than  to  complain."  She  was  much  distinguished 


WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY.  237 

on  the  one  hand  for  the  tender  sympathy  which  she  was 
ever  ready  to  manifest  with  the  poor,  the  orphan, and  those 
suffering  under  bodily  afflictions,  and  on  the  other,  for  the 
princely  munificence  with  which  she  relieved  these  vari- 
ous objects  of  distress.  When  the  Duke  of  Guise  made  his 
memorable  expedition  into  Italy,  spreading  terror  around, 
and  marking  his  steps  with  blood  and  rapine — the  excel- 
lent Duchess  of  Ferrara  rescued,  it  was  computed,  not 
less  than  10,000  persons  of  various  ranks  and  descriptions 
from  the  destruction  which  would  otherwise  have  over- 
taken them. 

At  another  period  she  subjected  herself  to  threats  of 
vengeance  from  France,  because  she  ventured  to  make  one 
of  her  castles  an  asylum  for  hundreds  of  suffering  Protes- 
tants, many  of  whom  were  persons  of  distinction.  With 
the  firmness  and  true  heroism  which  Christianity  imparts, 
she  hesitated  not  to  assert  her  rights,  and  she  did  this  so 
effectually,  as  even  to  awe  into  silence  the  proud  and 
bigoted  Duke  of  Guise,  who  at  the  time  commanded  the 
army  of  France. 

On  various  accounts  her  bitter  enemies,  the  Romanists, 
were  constrained  to  manifest  towards  her  the  highest  re- 
spect,and  to  tremble  at  the  moral  power  which  she  exerted. 
After  her  husband's  death  she  left  Ferrara  and  returned 
to  France,  on  which  occasion,  the  Jesuits  are  stated  to 
have  been  the  only  individuals  who  did  riot  bewail  her 
departure  as  a  severe  national  calamity.  So  powerful  an 
opponent  to  the  papal  power  was  Renee  considered  by  the 
head  of  the  church,  that  he  hesitated  not  to  seek  her 
destruction  by  endeavoring  to  poison  the  mind  of  her  noble 
husband,  who  had  previously  regarded  her  with  unbounded 
esteem  and  affection.  He  likewise  endeavored  to  enlist  as 
a  persecutor  of  the  pious  Renee,  Henry  II.  of  France,  wha 


238  WOMEN   OF    PROTESTANT   CHRISTIANITY. 

was  her  nephew,  and  one  who  she  regarded  with  warm 
affection,  and  by  whom  she  had  been  treated  with  respect- 
ful tenderness. 

These  near  and  dear  relatives  of  the  duchess  first  em- 
ployed more  gentle  means  in  seeking  to  win  her  back  to 
the  Romish  faith;  and  when  these  proved  ineffectual,  they 
hesitated  not  to  have  recourse  to  harsher  measures.  They 
threatened  to  separate  her  from  her  beloved  and  lovely 
children,  and  to  exclude  any  one  suspected  of  heretical 
sentiments  from  having  access  to  her  person;  under  the 
anguish  of  these  moments,  the  illustrious  Renee  made  cer- 
tain concessions,  but  could  never  be  compelled  to  espouse 
the  Romish  faith,  whose  corruptions  she  felt  and  abhorred. 

She  had  collected  at  her  capital  some  of  the  most  emi- 
nent literary  characters  of  the  age,  of  whose  assistance  she 
desired  to  avail  herself  in  the  education  of  her  beloved 
children.  But  she  was  not  content  with  providing  them 
able  instructors  in  human  science,  she  sought  with  eager 
assiduity  to  cultivate  their  moral  natures  to  the  best  pos- 
ble  advantage.  The  expedient  devised  by  her  for  this 
purpose,  was  as  rare  as  it  was  efficacious;  she  sought  out 
c«rtain  young  females  of  rank  for  their  companions,  whose 
influence  should  be  exerted  in  winning  her  own  beautiful 
and  highly  gifted  daughters  to  piety  and  learning. 

Among  the  band  of  youthful  females  selected  by  this 
princess,  as  the  conservatives  of  her  dearest  interests,  was 
Olympia  Morata,  whose  biographers  doubt,  "  whetner  she 
was  more  beautiful  in  person,  or  more  accomplished  in 
mind;  more  masculine  in  understanding  or  more  feminine 
in  manners;  more  firm  or  more  gentle;  more  estimable  or 
more  lovely ;  more  beloved  on  earth,  or  more  ripe  for 
heaven." 

This  lovely  and  gifted  creature  moved  in  the  brilliant 


i 

WOMEN   OF   PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY,  239 

court  circles  of  Ferrara,  perpetually  encircled  by  a  halo 
of  moral  beauty.     She  constrained   those  around  to  love 
piety  as  she  embodied  it  into  practice,  while  she  com- 
manded no  less  uniformly,  respect  and  deference  to  it  by 
the  intellectual  graces  with  which  it  was  seen  associated  in 
her.     The  moral  power  which  she  exerted  in  her  youth 
and  loveliness   among  the   noble  and   talented  of    both 
sexes  in  the  court  of  Renee, became  at  length  so  formid- 
able that  the  court  of  Rome  was  made  to  tremble  at  it; 
and  her  emissaries  were  empowered   by  every  possible 
means  to  endeavor  to  blight   the  prospects  of   Olympia 
Morata.     She  was  assailed  in  all  quarters.     Her  enemies 
exerted  themselves  to  make  her  tenets  the   subject  of 
odium  to  the  Duke,  while  by  other  expedients  they  sought 
to  alienate  from  her  by  misrepresentation  of  her  conduct, 
the  affections  of  the  Duchess.    Olympia  was  banished  from 
court,  and  from  the  land  of  her  birth;  but  her  oppressors 
could  not  so  readily  force  her  gentle  image  from  the  hearts 
of  those  who  had  long  known  and  loved  her;  neither  could 
they  neutralize  her  influence  as  they  had  hoped,  in  the 
ducal  family.     The  lovely  Anne  d'Este,  whose   beauty, 
accomplishments  and  talents,  were  subsequently  instru- 
mental in  making  moral  worth  respected  even  in  the  dis- 
solute capital  of  France,  loved  and  deferred  to  Olympia; 
and  by  her  persuasions  was  incited  when  she   became 
Duchess  of  Guise,  to  make  extraordinary  exertions  in  be- 
half of  the  distressed  and  suffering  Hugenots,  before  she  had 
made  a  regular  religious  profession.  When  in  her  presence, 
the  ferocious  Catharine  de  Medici  called  exultingly  to  her 
female  attendants  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  the  slaughtered 
Protestants,  Anne  d'  Este  went  nobly  forward,  and  with 
tears  besought  her  as  she  loved  her  son  or  country,  to  com- 
mand a  cessation  of  the  carnage.      Anne  was  five  years 


240  WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT   CHRISTIANITY. 

the  junior  of  Olympia  Morata,  and  regarded  her  with  the 
warmest  affection  and  most  unbounded  confidence.  In 
her  hours  of  exile  and  suffering  the  lovely  and  patient 
victim  of  persecution,  lost  not  sympathy  for  her  noble 
friends  who  were  surrounded  with  the  honors  and  prosper- 
ity of  the  world.  She  was  rather  incited  to  redoubled 
zeal  for  their  spiritual  interests,  and  to  a  more  tender  and 
yearning  atlection  for  them.  With  fervent  zeal  and  impor- 
tunity, she  appealed  to  her  beloved  young  friends  who 
were  resident  in  the  courts  of  Italy  and  France,  conjuring 
them  to  devote  much  attention  to  scriptural  studies,  and 
to  seek  their  highest  satisfaction  in  these  sacred  avocations. 
To  one  of  these  affectionate  appeals  she  consecrated  her 
dying  energies  and  strength,  and  in  conclusion  observed, 
"  May  God  for  the  sake  of  Christ  grant,  that  I  have  not 
written  in  vain.  I  sincerely  wish  I  were  able,  by  my 
death  to  be  of  service  to  you  and  others,  in  the  things  that 
pertain  to  salvation." 

Margaret  of  Navarre  was  the  cousin,  and  in  some  re- 
spects a  kindred  spirit  of  Renee,  though  far  her  inferior  in 
piety.  She  is  said  to  have  been  the  instrumental  cause  of 
the  conversion  of  the  famous  Calvin.  This  princess  had 
invited  to  her  city  of  Bourges,  as  professor  of  Greek  litera- 
ture, a  certain  pious  Lutheran  divine,  to  whom  Calvin  was 
indebted  for  his  knowledge  and  Adoption  of  the  reformed 
faith,  in  the  diffusion  of  which  he  acted  a  most  conspicu- 
ous part  in  subsequent  years. 

It  would  however  be  presenting  but  an  imperfect  esti- 
mate of  the  influence  exercised  by  the  females  of  Protes- 
tant Christianity,  were  we  to  limit  our  observations  to  those 
only  of  their  number  who  have  swayed  the  sceptre  of 
kingdoms,  or  lived  in  the  halls  of  nobles.  The  individuals 
of  high  rank  whose  names  have  been  cited,  did  undoubt- 


WOMEN    OP    PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY.  241 

edly  exercise  a  most  benign  influence  in  their  conspicuous 
stations ;  but  it  has  been  by  no  means  to  such  members  of 
the  Protestant  faith  exclusively  that  mankind  has  been  in- 
debted for  blessings  conferred  through  their  instrumen- 
tality. On  the  contrary,  I  apprehend,  that  were  we  able 
to  sum  up  evidence  confirmatory  of  the  moral  power 
which  has  been  exerted  by  the  class  of  Protestant  females 
who  have  occupied  the  chief  places  in  society,  and  then,  if 
it  were  possible,  draw  up  an  estimate  of  that  which  has 
been,  and  is  at  this  moment  being  exercised  in  our  own 
country  and  in  Great  Britain  alone,  by  pious  women  in 
their  respective  fields  of  exertion  in  inferior  stations,  we 
should  find  on  comparing  the  two  accounts,  an  immense 
superiority  in  favor  of  the  latter. 

In  a  previous  chapter  of  this  work  an  attempt  was  made 
to  point  out  briefly  the  duties  which  we  supposed  were 
especially  allotted  by  God  to  woman  in  the  station  to  which 
he  had  appointed  her  under  the  divine  economy.  The 
opportunities  afforded  her  for  eminent  usefulness  in  the 
discharge  of  the  various  duties  of  the  maternal,  conjugal, 
and  filfal  relations,  as  well  as  of  those  growing  out  of  the 
position  held  by  her  in  other  departments  of  domestic  life, 
and  the  legitimate  field  of  exertion  of  a  more  public  kind, 
opened  before  her  in  numerous  directions,  by  means  of 
which  she  was  fitted  to  be  eminently  useful  in  extending 
the  borders  of  her  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and  in  ameliora- 
ting the  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  physical  wants  of  her 
fellow  members  in  the  vast  human  family — were  also 
sketched  in  a  cursory  manner.  In  all  these  departments 
of  duty,  we  hesitate  not  in  asserting  that  the  women  of 
Protestant  Christianity  have  been  eminently  useful.  And 
indeed  among  all  the  various  bodies  of  females  who  have 
heretofore  filled  stations  in  society,  or  are  now  occupying 

21 


242  WOMEN   OF   PROTESTANT    CHRISTIANITY. 

them,  they  only  have  been  enabled  pre-eminently  in  the 
various  walks  of  life  to  meet  the  designs  of  the  Almighty 
in  the  creation  of  their  sex. 

On  one  occasion  while  receiving  a  pamphlet  of  con- 
siderable interest  from  the  pen  of  a  member  of  this  honor- 
able body,  a  writer  in  the  London  Christian  Observer,  of 
Dec.,  1815,  makes  the  following  gratifying  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  worth  and  efficiency  of  that  class  of  moral 
agents,  of  whom  the  authoress,  Miss  Sinclair,  was  a  worthy 
representative —  the  Protestant  female  Christians  of  Great 
Britain. 

"  We  are  anxious,"  the  writer  remarks,  "  in  taking  up 
a  pamphlet  like  the  present,  to  avoid  the  current  language 
of  compliment  to  the  female  sex,  while  we  acknowledge 
with  gratitude  to  God,  the  great  blessings  which  their 
piety  and  virtue  so  often  confer  on  ours.  Blessings  which 
have  been  never  greater  than  at  the  present  moment, 
when  among  the  most  excellent  and  useful  of  our  writers — 
the  most  active  and  enlightened  of  our  philanthropists  — 
the  wisest  guides  of  youth —  the  most  efficient  supporters 
of  our  charitable  institutions — the  best  friends  of  the  poor, 
the  sick,  the  outcast,  the  prisoner — we  may  enumerate 
females,  who  without  derogating  from  the  retiring  delicacy 
which  becomes  their  character,  have  contrived  simply, 
piously,  actively,  unostentatiously,  to  confer  benefits  upon 
their  country;  for  which  many  a  succeeding  race  will  arise 
to  call  them  blessed." 

To  few,  perhaps,  to  no  other  moral  writer  of  the  age 
is  society  in  all  its  ranks  under  such  great  obligations  as 
to  Hannah  More,  for  the  variety,  the  extent,  and  the  sea- 
sonableness  of  her  literary  labors.  To  her  active  exer- 
tions in  the  cause  of  philanthropy,  and  to  the  light  of  her 
consistent  and  holy  Christian  example,  her  country  is  in- 
debted also  in  an  eminent  degree. 


WOMEN    OF    PROTESTANT   CHRISTIANITY.  243 

In  the  mind  of  Louise  Schepler,  a  respected  and  at- 
tached domestic  of  Oberlin  and  a  devoted  disciple  of  the 
reformed  faith,  originated  the  useful  Infant  School  system. 
The  numerous  benevolent  and  charitable  associations  of 
the  present  day  both  in  Great  Britain  and  America,  are 
mainly  and  most  efficiently  conducted  by  Protestant 
females.  No  names  among  our  countrywomen  have  been 
more  honored  in  life,  or  more  generally  embalmed  in  the 
memory  and  affections  of  our  citizens  than  those  of  the 
venerated  Mrs.  Isabella  Graham  of  New  York,  and  Mrs. 
Ralston  of  Philadelphia;  who  we  believe  are  universally 
admitted  to  have  taken  the  lead  of  all  others,  in  this 
country,  in  rearing  asylums  for  our  orphans  and  widows. 


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